Why write about a murderer?  Robert Icke writes and directs Manhunt about the 2010 police search to find a man released from Durham Prison after serving a short sentence.  Two days after his release Raoul Thomas Moat (Samuel Edward-Cooke) had gone to a house in Birtley where his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart (Sally Messham) was staying with her new manfriend Chris Brown (Leo James).  Afraid of Moat, Samantha had told him that her new manfriend was a policeman.  Moat already seemed to have a hatred for policemen.  Moat had two children from a previous marriage and one daughter with Sam Stobbart.

The opening scene shows a man behind a gauze curtain onto which is projected a live stream rotating of the man behind.   There are sounds of cages closing shut.

This play is not about understanding Moat or finding reasons for his intense anger and what is called toxic masculinity.  Physically he is 6 feet 3 inches and 17 stone and short tempered. The police know that on release from prison he is making threats about his ex-girlfriend.  He is released on 1st July And on 3rd July, he listens outside where Chris Brown and Sam Stobbart are discussing him.  He waits for Chris Brown to come outside and shoots him dead with a sawn off shotgun.  He then shoots into the house and wounds Sam, damaging her liver and resulting in her requiring hospital surgery.