Fugitive gunman Raoul Moat was in a stand-off with armed police late last night.

Mr Moat, 37, was surrounded by at least 10 snipers in the riverside area of Rothbury, in Northumberland, amid eyewitness accounts that Britain's most wanted man was holding a gun to his neck.

Dozens more armed police were on stand-by as the manhunt appeared to be reaching its climax.

Officers at the scene confirmed they had tracked down the former nightclub doorman and a process of negotiation was under way.

Eyewitnesses described how Mr Moat was lying down pointing his gun at himself while surrounded by armed police and negotiators during the stand-off.

They also heard shouting while one man said Mr Moat was chased through the village and was heading east before being cornered at the primary school tennis courts and bowling green.

Resident Chris Robertson told the BBC he thought he had seen Mr Moat holding a sawn-off shotgun to his neck.

The scene is only a couple of hundred yards upstream from where a Lexus car believed to have been used by Mr Moat was found on Tuesday.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: "A man who fits the description of Raoul Thomas Moat has been located in the riverbank area in the vicinity of Rothbury. Police are currently negotiating."

Armed police descended on the village as the hunt for the fugitive spread to the countryside north from Newcastle. The dramatic scenes followed the news that detectives were pursuing "valuable" new leads a week into the investigation after recovering three mobile phones used by Mr Moat during his time on the run.