ITV's Raoul Moat drama 'horrifies' ex-police chief Sue Sim

Raoul Moat became the subject of the country's largest manhunt in decades

The police chief who led the hunt for murderer Raoul Moat says she is "horrified" his crimes have been turned into a TV drama.

The former bouncer shot and injured his ex-girlfriend, killed her new partner and blinded a police officer in 2010 before killing himself.

Sue Sim, who was Northumbria Police's chief constable at the time, said the series was "glorifying" tragic events.

ITV said the drama had been based on "extensive research".

Police began a week-long manhunt in July 2010 when Moat shot and injured Samantha Stobbart and shot dead her boyfriend Chris Brown in Gateshead just days after being released from Durham prison where he had been serving a sentence for assault.

He went on to shoot traffic officer PC David Rathband who was finishing his shift in a marked patrol car in Newcastle. PC Rathband lost his sight in both eyes and took his own life in 2012.

Having gone on the run, 37-year-old Moat was spotted in Rothbury, Northumberland, and following a six-hour stand-off turned his gun on himself.

Sue Sim addressed reporters in Rothbury in 2010 as the media descended on the Northumberland village

The first episode of The Hunt for Raoul Moat was broadcast on ITV1 on Sunday with two further episodes to come later and on Tuesday.

Ms Sim told the BBC's 5 Live Breakfast it was too soon to relive the events on TV as they were "within the lifetime of everyone who was there".

"I was absolutely horrified when ITV told me they were going to make what they called a dramatisation, which means they don't have to be quite as factual with the events as they would have to be if they were using a documentary title," she said.

"I won't watch it. I actually lived the events, I know exactly what happened.

"I've read what the producer had to say about how they wanted to highlight the views of his victims, highlight the police, highlight the journalist [involved] and to, in effect - and these are their words - demonise Moat.

"The issue is Moat has children who have to have this awful thing their father did brought back to them."

PC David Rathband was blinded by Moat who approached him as he sat in his police patrol car

Ms Sim, who retired in 2015, said she understood the production company had notified PC Rathband's widow, Kath, about the series by email and described that as "appalling".

"This is within a generation. The reality of it is this is purely just for the glorification of a terribly tragic incident. It just seems to be the worst type of television to me.

"[Kath] and her children are having to live this dramatisation.

Sue Sim, who has since retired, was Northumbria Police's chief constable at the time

"For what end is this being done other than to make a huge amount of money for the people involved?

"They phoned me to let me know I would be appearing in it. I expressed my concern to them.

"I asked them if they had all the facts. They said they were working with people who'd been there at the time.

"I just said if you are going to do it, and I disagree with it, please make sure you use the facts and they uttered the immortal words, 'it's a dramatisation, Mrs Sim'."

Moat was spotted near a river in Rothbury and a stand-off ensued

ITV said screenwriter Kevin Sampson and executives at World Productions had based the drama "on extensive research, wide-ranging interviews conducted with those personally involved in the case and published accounts".

It added: "Some scenes have been created for the purposes of dramatisation and some names have been changed to protect certain individuals.

"Rather than focusing on Moat's mythology, our drama tells his victims' story, challenging viewers to address issues, themes and perspectives they may not previously have considered."