UK woman exposed to nerve agent, dies

A murder investigation was launched today following the death of a British woman after being exposed to a "high dose" of a deadly nerve agent close to a city where a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned with the same chemical four months ago.

Dawn Sturgess, 44, died at Salisbury District Hospital in Wiltshire yesterday after falling ill on June

30.

Her partner Charlie Rowley,

45, who also fell ill after being exposed to the nerve agent, remains in a critical condition in hospital. Scotland Yard said they have launched a murder investigation - the second major probe involving the militarygrade nerve agent this year, following the case of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in March.

Tests have revealed that the Amesbury couple were exposed to Novichok, a nerve agent developed by the Soviet military during the Cold War in what is the first known offensive use of such a chemical weapon on European soil since World War II. Security services believe the couple were inadvertently exposed to the same nerve agent used to attack Skripal and his daughter four months ago. Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, head of UK counter-terrorism policing, which is leading the investigation, said he was "unable to say" if the incident in Amesbury is linked to the poisoning of the Skripals on March 3 - but it is their "main line of inquiry".