Nerve agent victim released from U.K. hospital after poisoning

LONDON — Nerve agent victim Charlie Rowley has been released from the hospital after three weeks of treatment since being poisoned, U.K. officials said Friday.

Lorna Wilkinson, the director of nursing at Salisbury District Hospital, said Rowley, 45, had been discharged after making substantial progress in recent days.

“Charlie has been through an appalling experience most of us could never imagine,” she said. “Today is a very welcome milestone in his recovery.”

Officials say Rowley and his partner, Dawn Sturgess, fell ill June 30 after being exposed to the nerve agent Novichok when they handled a small bottle containing the nerve agent. Officials believe the substance was from the same batch used in the March nerve agent attack on ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Sturgess, 44, died in the hospital on July 8, eight days after she became violently ill at Rowley’s home in Amesbury in southwestern England. Rowley became ill several hours later with similar symptoms. Police initially thought the two had taken contaminated heroin or crack cocaine but tests indicated they were poisoned by Novichok.

Novichok was produced by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Britain has blamed Russia for poisoning the spy and his daughter, who both recovered after lengthy hospitalizations, as well as accidentally poisoning Rowley, Sturgess and a police officer who aided the Skripals.

Russia has strongly denied the charges.