The business development expert who helped Moat set up tree surgery firm Mr Trimmit said from the first moments they met , the ex-doorman was angry with police who he suspected was out to get him.
Moat approached the consultant, from Newcastle’s West End, whose identity is being protected, when he was unemployed.
The firm saw Moat gardening at some of the region’s most impressive homes, including £1m properties in exclusive Darras Hall, Ponteland.
The business adviser said: “From what I saw he worked very hard and he was quite a character, but he always had a chip on his shoulder.
“He was furious from day one when he claimed the police had it in for him. He would say they had stopped him in the street, or stopped him in his car.
“I tried to keep things as business like as possible but he would keep talking to me about it.”
The adviser said he knew Moat had been having personal problems, which he had been struggling to deal with.
He said: “He (Moat) had this dream of a nice business and working hard. He was very motivated like that.
“I think he just wanted a nice house, perhaps in the countryside, with a good job and his family around him.
“He was good at what he did because of his strength. You would be driving along the street and see him lifting these enormous tree trunks into the back of his truck.
“He would be wearing a bandana, he was a very free spirit, he just didn’t like being controlled.