Police surgeons were today given an embarrassing reminder not to take anything for granted after it emerged that gunman Raoul Moat, presumed killed by his own firearm, had in fact passed away peacefully in his sleep. The loud noise which police has assumed was the shotgun discharging was in fact more likely to have been the distinctive 'booming' mating call of the corncrake, a bird traditionally found near rivers and culverts in the Northumbria area.
"We're mortified, basically," admitted Dr Barry Whitlow this morning. "It seemed so obvious that it was the shotgun going off that killed him, we just rushed things a bit."