CORNERED killer Raoul Moat knew he faced the rest of his life in prison which made police negotiations with him extremely difficult, his inquest heard today.

With a shotgun pointing at his own head, he told officers during a six-hour stand-off: "I cannot do the jail."

A senior negotiator told the inquest jury sitting at Newcastle Crown Court that police tried to convince him he had a future, and to think of his family.

But he shot himself in the head with his sawn-off shotgun moments after police fired two Taser rounds at him.

Moat had shot his ex-girlfriend Sam Stobbart, then executed her new boyfriend Chris Brown and the next day blinded Pc David Rathband last July.

He evaded a huge police manhunt for days until he was cornered in Rothbury, Northumberland, by the River Coquet.

The negotiator, named in court only as A1 and who gave evidence anonymously, said Moat knew he was facing a full life term having killed once, attempted to murder his girlfriend and maimed a serving police officer.

A1 told the hearing: "I cannot imagine it getting more difficult than this."