Inquest into death of Taser firm boss to open

An inquest into the death of a British company director whose firm supplied Tasers used during the stand-off with gunman Raoul Moat will open today.

Peter Boatman, director of operations for Pro-Tect Systems, was found dead at his Northampton home on Friday. It is understood he took his own life.

An inquest into his death will be opened this morning at Northampton General Hospital.

On Friday Mr Boatman’s business partner said the former police officer was “destroyed” by the furore caused by criticism of his firm for supplying the Tasers used during the stand-off with Moat.

Mr Boatman was previously in charge of assessing the merits of Taser as head of operational training for the Northants force before leaving to join Pro-Tect.

The Home Office revoked the firm’s licence to import and sell Tasers last Tuesday after it breached its terms by supplying X12 Tasers, which were still being tested by government scientists, directly to police involved in the Moat manhunt.

And after Mr Boatman’s body was discovered, Pro-Tect’s managing director Kevin Coles said there was “no doubt” his colleague’s apparent suicide was linked to the week’s events.

He said: “He was a proud man and he felt ashamed at recent developments.

“He spent all his life involved in officer safety and what happened was a result of him being worried about the welfare of officers.

“He knew there was something there that would offer the officers protection and that was what his motive was.

“The furore over it destroyed him.”

Former colleague Bill Fox, chairman of conflict management specialist Maybo, said Mr Boatman had been awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for his commitment to officer safety.

Pro-Tect breached its licence by supplying the X12 Tasers and XRep ammunition, which were still being tested by the Home Office, directly to two police forces.

Home Secretary Theresa May revoked the firm’s licence to import and sell Tasers following an investigation into the use of the weapons at the end of one of Britain’s biggest manhunts.

The company was facing possible action by Northamptonshire Police over the breach of the licence.

On Friday the force said officers were called to an address in Reynard Way, Kingsthorpe, Northampton, at 1.09pm, where the body of a 57-year-old man was discovered.

Armed police fired two Tasers at Moat in an “effort to stop him taking his own life” in the Riverside park area in Rothbury, Northumberland, in the early hours of July 10, an inquest at Newcastle Civic Centre was told.

The controversial Tasers, which were criticised by human rights campaigners, can deliver up to 20 seconds of electric shock in bullet-like capsules from a standard 12-gauge shotgun or X12 Taser.

Mrs May revoked Pro-Tect’s licence after inquiries revealed it supplied the Tasers, which should have been supplied only to the Home Office Science and Development Branch (HOSDB), directly to police.

The firm also breached the rules “governing the secure transport of the devices and ammunition”, the Home Office said.

There was no suggestion any blame should be attached to the officers involved in the Moat stand-off and the Home Office has stressed police could use any weapon they saw fit as long as its use was “lawful, reasonable and proportionate”.

The stand-off with the steroid-addicted former nightclub doorman ended the seven-day manhunt which was triggered when Moat shot his former girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart, 22, killed her new boyfriend, Chris Brown, 29, and blinded Pc David Rathband, 42.

But the precise sequence of events regarding the discharge of the XRep Tasers in relation to Moat firing his sawn-off shotgun has not been established and is under investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the inquest into his death was told.