"Moat had been serving an 18-week sentence for a "low-level" assault on a family member and was released at the half-way point of two months and two days.

As a short sentence prisoner, he was not required to be supervised by the probation service once he had walked out.

Police sources suggested earlier that Moat had told other inmates he was going to kill when he got out but did not say who was his intended target: "He was a man hell bent on revenge. He was full of rage," the sources were quoted as saying.

Prison authorities were believed to be acting on this intelligence when they warned police.

However, if they had felt the intelligence was strong enough to warrant immediate action, they could have warned the police earlier to enable them to carry out a "gate arrest" as he stepped out of prison."

As mauvepink posted earlier -

"It will now be up to the IPCC to decide whether more action could have been taken after the warnings."

"Raoul Moat: IPCC to investigate police response to prison warning" Guardian report 5th July