THE father of fugitive Raoul Moat’s former girlfriend, Samantha Stobbart, yesterday made a heartfelt video plea to the gunman to hand himself in.

In a short video released by police, Paul Stobbart begged the father of his granddaughter to give himself up.

Referring to him twice as “son”, he pleaded with the 37-year-old to stop for the sake of his children.

He said: “Raoul son, please, this has to stop, it’s gone on for too long.

“What sort of memories are these of the kids to have of their father?

“If they ask me in the future or their bairns I will tell them exactly what happened.

“I won’t lie to them, you know that, and I don’t want to have to tell them that might upset them about you or whatever’s gone on. Come on son, give it up.” Moat shot and injured Miss Stobbart, 22, and killed her new boyfriend Chris Brown, two days after being released from prison. The breakdown of his relationship with her is believed to have triggered his rampage.

Police also revealed they had found another letter from Moat in a tent in a secluded spot near Rothbury.

They said the eight-page handwritten letter, addressed to Miss Stobbart, focused mainly on personal matters between the pair.

Tonight Moat remained at large and police were continuing to hunt for him.

Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Jim Campbell said: “We are committed to doing all we can to find this man which means the intensive and systematic searches are continuing throughout the night.”