Police were today investigating the armed robbery of a fish and chip shop by a man with a similar description to the fugitive Raoul Moat.
Northumbria police said a 6ft tall white man aged about 35 with a muscular build and short sandy-coloured hair pulled out a gun last night in the shop near Blyth – around 10 miles north of Newcastle – before escaping with some cash.
A large-scale hunt has intensified for Moat, the Newcastle bodybuilder suspected of killing one man and seriously injuring his former girlfriend and a police officer in a shooting spree, as it emerged that he had written a letter in which he "declared war on Northumbria police".
Armed officers from six forces are searching Newcastle and the surrounding area trying to track down the 37-year-old, who friends and acquaintances said would not give himself up easily and was likely to prefer to be shot by police.
There were also reports this morning that armed police had surrounded a property in Gateshead. A spokeswoman for Northumbria police said operations were carried out in Springwell Road.
Residents said they heard police helicopters from around 6.30am. Police would not confirm how many officers were involved, if any arrests had been made or if the operations were over.
Northumbria police – who are not linking last night's raid on the chip shop to the hunt for Moat – said they had not identified the offender.
The raid took place at 10.50pm in Astley Road, Seaton Delaval, on the north-east English coast. No vehicle was seen at the scene of the robbery, police said, and no weapon had been recovered.
Northumbria police have said they were warned that Moat had said he wanted to cause serious harm to his ex-partner before he allegedly struck.
Details emerged last night of a 49-page letter, dated 4 July, that Moat wrote to police. According to the Sun, the letter, delivered to police by one of Moat's friends, said: "The public need not fear me, but the police should as I won't stop till I am dead. They took it all from me, kids, freedom, house, then Sam and Chanel. Where could I go from there. Obviously I have issues, but I was pushed. I never beat my kids."
He claimed he did not mean to hurt his former girlfriend, before threatening those attempting to save her life. "Those doctors better save her or I'll hit the hospital. I still love her despite everything but my head is in a mess right now and I know I'm too far gone to make much sense of it."
He added: "I never cheated on her, I wish she hadn't on me. She pulled the trigger by doing so just as much as me." Police said Moat had been in contact with them several times since the attacks.
Amid fears that he could strike again, police mounted at least two operations in which they targeted the wrong people. Dozens of armed officers, a police helicopter and several dog units were involved in a raid on a house in the North Kenton area of Newcastle. Another innocent man was seized in Sunderland before being released.
Police last night revealed details of a black Lexus IS200 SE saloon car, registration V322 HKX, believed to be associated with Moat. It is described as having a full body kit and two regular alloy wheels and two "space saver" thin wheels. It does not belong to him but to an associate.
Moat is suspected of shooting his former girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart, 22, and killing her boyfriend, Chris Brown, 20, early on Saturday morning at her mother's home in Gateshead. He later shot and critically injured PC David Rathband, 42, as he sat in a patrol car several miles away at East Denton.
Moat had a 19-month-old daughter, Chanel, with Stobbart, who ended their relationship while Moat was in jail.
Stobbart's half-sister, Kelly, 27, said Moat had published a "hitlist" of targets on Facebook. "He's updated his status on Facebook and there's now a hitlist. I'm on it and so are family members. He's said he will take out any police that get in his way," she said.
A police spokeswoman said they had been monitoring Facebook. "We are aware of stories in the media concerning a so-called hitlist. We have been monitoring these sites and have found no evidence of these lists."
Apparently taunting the police, Moat also made a six-minute 999 call 12 minutes before he shot PC Rathband, outlining what he planned to do. He made another call 50 minutes after the shooting in which he appeared to show no concern for the officer's critical injuries.
Last night police took the unusual step of releasing images of PC Rathband's bloody injuries taken before he received treatment. Temporary chief constable Sue Sim said the father-of-two was sitting in the driver's seat of his marked police car when he was approached by Moat, who fired two shots at him. He suffered serious injuries to his head and upper body.
Earlier Stobbart, who is now recovering from surgery, made an appeal through Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson for Moat to give himself up. He said on her behalf: "If you still love me and our baby you would not be doing this any more. When you came out of jail I told you I was seeing a police officer. I said this because I was frightened. I have not been seeing a police officer." Brown was a karate instructor.
Several people, including Stobbart, are under police protection.
Moat is believed to still be in the north-east and Adamson said a number of people might be aware of Moat's movements: "They may even have had contact with him over the weekend. We need to speak to these people."
Near Moat's home in the Fenham area of Newcastle, one neighbour said she had seen him on Thursday, the day he was released from prison and two days before he embarked on his shooting spree. "He was dressed as if to go to war," she said.
Earlier in the day, Sim admitted officials at Durham prison, where Moat had been serving a short sentence until Thursday, had warned on Friday that he "may intend to cause serious harm to his [former] partner". The police did not say whether Stobbart had been told about the threat. Sim has referred the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.