What Really Happened To Raoul Moat’s Urn And Ashes
RAOUL Moat’s ashes have been scattered close to the scene of his death, five miles upstream from Rothbury, Northumberland. Only a few people were there. There was no fanfare. We only learnt of the event when our partners at the Press Association were told of it.
Still, Raoul Moat is deemed to be newsworthy in the tabloids.
He is the Sun’s front-page news. And that news is:
THE family of killer Raoul Moat scattered his ashes yesterday in the town where he shot himself – enraging locals who fear it will become a magnet for ghouls.
No. Moat’s ashes were not scattered in the town of Rothbury. His ashes were scattered five miles away. Or as the Mirror says:
The killer’s family gathered at the River Coquet, eight miles from the Northumberland village of Rothbury.
And the only “ghoul” there is the photographer on the scene.
We are told:
Dozens of ghouls are already turning up in Rothbury every day to visit the suicide scene.
Really? Dozens..?
To date we have only met one ghoul. No, not those hacks and photographers covering the event to tell decent folk of the outrage. We met Theresa Bystram, who is once more mentioned in the Sun. We get to learn the name of not one more ghoul nor see a picture of them. And if you are ghoul, you will be photographed and named. You will be famous and be in the papers.
But the real oddity about this story is that with the ashes scattered, why is a red plastic urn sat by the riverside? How did it come to be photographed looking do clean and pert when Moat’s 72-year-old uncle Charlie Alexander says it had been chucked in a bin.
Did someone retrieve the urn and sit it by the river? And by some mad stroke of fortune did a photographer manage to spot it and turn it into news?
Also, if there are so many ghouls worshipping Moat, why is there no-one in the picture? The urn sits alone. There is no sign of human life.
And why there? Says Mr Alexander of the scattering:
“It happened way outside of Rothbury in a fast part of the river which would carry the ashes through the town. But there’s nowhere for people to turn into a shrine or anything like that. I don’t think the locals have any cause for concern. We’re not telling anybody where we did it because we don’t want people to go to the spot.”
The Mail tells us:
The empty urn – clearly marked with the name ‘Raoul Thomas Moat’, the cremation number and the date of his funeral – has now been removed by locals, fearing that the riverside spot will become a ghoulish shrine.
And how did the urn become equipped with a picture of Moat cuddling a puppy?
Curious stuff. Makes you wonder if the tabloids are a bit disappointed Raoul Moat is no longer popular. How they miss him…
But he’s still entertaining us, the man the media turned into a folk hero. Catch: Raoul Moat: Inside The Mind Of A Killer – 9pm, Channel 4 – tonight!
And you thought made-for-TV murder was all John Nettles and iffy plots…
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Posted: 18th, August 2010 | In: Reviews Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink
