14 July 2010 Last updated at 18:37 ET

Gunman Raoul Moat asked for psychiatric help

Social workers were told by gunman Raoul Moat that he wanted to see a psychiatrist in the months before he murdered his ex-partner's boyfriend.

The former nightclub doorman said he wanted help in case he had a "problem".

Moat, who died on Saturday, shot Samantha Stobbart, 22, killed Chris Brown and wounded Pc David Rathband.

Newcastle Council confirmed it had had "extensive contact" with Moat regarding two of his children. A psychological report did not recommend treatment.

The gunman was on the run for a week after the shootings before he was caught by police in Rothbury, Northumberland, on Friday evening.

He was involved in a six-hour stand-off with armed officers, which ended with Moat apparently shooting himself in the early hours of Saturday.

Taped recordings Moat made with social workers and the police from July 2009 until about April of this year suggest he was becoming increasingly paranoid.

In one conversation he said: "I'm quite emotionally unstable you know, I get myself over-the-top happy sometimes. And I have my bad days, you know.

"The more you block things out, the more numb you become in the heart you know. You get to a point where happiness to you is just like, you know, neither here nor there."

'Open to suggestions'

The recordings were given to ITV News by a friend of Moat, who said friends wanted people to see a different picture of the father-of-three.

In one recording made by Moat in August 2009 of a meeting, attended by a social worker, the gunman said: "I would like to have a psychiatrist, psychologist, have a word with me regularly, on a regular basis, to see if there's somewhere underlying like where I have problem that I haven't seen.

"Why don't we just have a psychiatrist sit me down and say 'Right OK, I want to see you regularly, then we can move towards where your areas of fault are, we can enhance on these areas you know, and work with us'.

"If I'm at fault myself in any way, I'm open to all kinds of suggestions, but I refuse to spend the rest of my time fighting with social services."

Moat's brother Angus, 39, told BBC News: "If he'd the support network around him, he might not have got to where he got to.

"I think he was clearly a man who was in deeper water than people realised. Including myself unfortunately."

A spokesperson for Newcastle City Council said: "[Raoul Moat's] children are the subject of family court proceedings that will decide their long-term future.

"As part of these proceedings the council did commission a report from a psychologist that examined the possibility that the children might live with Mr Moat.

"This report did not recommend any treatment, but examined Mr Moat's aggressive behaviour on the safety and wellbeing of the children."

The spokesperson added that the protection of the children were the "absolute priority".

Earlier, Prime Minister David Cameron told the Commons there should be no sympathy for Moat, who he described as a "callous murderer".

Mr Cameron was speaking after flowers had been left at the scene of Moat's death and messages of sympathy to him were left on Facebook.

Conservative MP Chris Heaton-Harris asked Mr Cameron to contact Facebook requesting the removal of a Moat tribute page which has attracted nearly 35,000 members.

But a spokeswoman for Facebook said the page would not be removed on the grounds the site encourages public debate about issues in the media.

The hunt for Moat began on 3 July after he was suspected of shooting Ms Stobbart and Mr Brown in Birtley, near Gateshead.

Pc Rathband was shot the following day in East Denton as he sat in his patrol car.

Mr Rathband has told the Sun newspaper about the moment Moat approached his patrol car, saying: "I knew I was going to die."