Samantha Stobbart: who is Raoul Moat’s ex girlfriend, what happened to her - where is she now?

ITV true crime drama series The Hunt for Raoul Moat follows the violent rampage of Raoul Moat, who targeted his ex-girlfriend and her new partner just days after being released from prison for assault.

Samantha Stobbart, at the time a trainee hairdresser and Moat’s ex-girlfriend, as well as the mother of their child, was hunted by Moat, and narrowly survived his campaign of violence.

A decade on from the traumatic events, the ITV series has been criticised for raking up the past for entertainment, a charge which ITV denies. This is what happened to Samantha Stobbart, and what she did after the attack.

Who is Samantha Stobbart?

Samantha Stobbart was the ex-partner of criminal Raoul Moat and the mother of their young daughter, Chanel. She first met Moat when she was 16 and he was 31 - their on and off relationship lasted six years, with Moat repeatedly being violent towards Samantha, according to her half-sister, Kelly.

When Moat was serving an 18-week sentence for assaulting a nine year old relative, Samantha contacted him at Durham Prison to tell them that their relationship was over.

Moat, then 37, was released from prison in July 2010 and went looking for Samantha, who was 22 at the time. He found Samantha and her new partner, Chris Brown, at a neighbour’s property in Gateshead and approached them as they left in the early hours of 3 July. 

Moat shot Chris with a sawn-off shotgun, killing him. Samantha ran from the scene but Moat shot her twice in the stomach through a window of a property before fleeing on foot.

Samantha, who was treated at Gateshead's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, almost died in the vicious attack - doctors said that her arm blocked the worst of the shotgun blast, protecting her vital organs and ultimately saving her life.

On 5 July, Samantha appealed from hospital for Moat to give himself up. Sickeningly, whilst still recovering from her injuries in hospital, she received a ‘get well soon’ card from Moat.

A manhunt followed Moat’s attack - whilst on the run he shot and blinded a traffic police officer, David Rathband, who later took his own life. On 9 July, following a six-hour standoff with police, Moat killed himself with his shotgun.

Where is Samantha Stobbart now?

Samantha told The People that following the traumatic attack and murder of her partner she had considered taking her own life but didn’t go through with it for the sake of her three year old daughter.

Speaking of David Rathband, whose suicide was attributed to the trauma of losing his eyesight, she told The Mirror in 2012: “If I had lost my eyesight and couldn't see [Chanel], I don't think I’d be here either.”

Samantha is still deeply affected by memories of the attack and suffers flashbacks to Chris’ death. She said that she moved homes several times because people blamed her for Moat’s actions.

She also said that Chanel was starting to ask more questions about what happened and that when she is older she will tell her the full truth.

Samantha’s Mirror interview marked the last time that she has spoken to the press about Moat - it is unknown where she is, although in 2012 she had moved back in with her parents.

Samantha is played by Aftersun actress Sally Messham in three-part ITV drama The Hunt for Raoul Moat. The series has been criticised by those close to Samantha - her half-sister told The Mirror: “ITV don't realise the impact this will have on the people involved. It still gives me nightmares and I suffer PTSD. I'm so sick of hearing Raoul's name, and I'm so sick of him being on TV.”

Executive producer Jake Lushington of World Productions, said: "Nobody could ever say that the way we put this show together was focused towards, in broad terms, entertainment. It's there to inform but what drama does is it informs with emotion”. 

Caroline Dodd, the mother of Moat’s eldest child, who was taken into hiding during the manhunt, also slammed the series, saying it would ‘glorify his crimes’.