Weekend killers ... deadly duo jetted in, left poison on door and flew back on Sunday night
SIX months after the Salisbury attack, two Russian secret service hitmen have been unmasked as the suspected perpetrators of the audacious assassination attempt on UK soil.
Thanks to CCTV and meticulous detective work, with officers piecing together the pair’s movements from hours of footage and countless cameras, it has been possible to reconstruct their journey from Moscow to London, on to the Wiltshire cathedral city and back on a plane to Russia. They were in Britain for less than three days. THE FLIGHT TO UK
FRIDAY, March 2: The two men, said to be aged about 40, leave Moscow on an Aeroflot flight for London using bogus names on genuine Russian passports.
The documents do not contain the paternal line of the pair; the middle names of Russians are routinely used on identity papers or passports and denote a father’s name.
One of the names used, Alexander Petrov, is also suspicious. It is common in Russia as John Smith was in the UK.
It is assumed the men made no attempt to disguise themselves. Many criminals have been known – like in the movies – to use prosthetic face masks to avoid being identified by cameras.
We do not know whether the deadly nerve agent novichok, used in the attack and carried by the duo in a counterfeit Nina Ricci perfume bottle, was in their possession as they entered the UK. If it was not, perhaps they collected the lethal material from accomplices already in situ.
Having cleared airport security, they take the train to London’s Victoria station, arriving at 5.40pm. Twenty minutes later, they transfer to the Tube and travel three stops to Waterloo.
THEIR HOTEL (YARDS FROM POLICE STATION)
FROM Waterloo, they cross the Thames to go to the €55-anight, two-star City Stay hotel in Bow Road, east London, where they had booked in for two nights. It boasts of having kitchen facilities in every bedroom and being located near the London Underground.
However, a recent review on Trip-Advisor said the hotel is ‘desperately depressing’ and ‘smelled of damp’. A guest complains online that he could not sleep as police sirens blared from 11pm until 2pm which – ironically considering the Russians’ choice of hotel – was ‘not helped by the fact the police station is across the road’.The Metropolitan Police confirmed yesterday that ‘low’ levels of Novichok were found in the hotel in May, during their investigation.
The hotel released a statement saying it is ‘fully supporting the police investigation’ and is ‘open for business as usual’.
Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu insisted there was no threat to public health, but has asked anyone who stayed there between March 4 and May 4 to contact Scotland Yard.
THEIR DUMMY RUN TO SALISBURY
SATURDAY, March 3: CCTV footage shows them go from their hotel to Waterloo station at 11.45am and then take the train to Salisbury.
They don’t stay long. They arrive at 2.25pm and leave for London soon after 4pm. By 8pm, they are back at their hotel for a second night. It was a round-trip of 240 miles, with a return fare of about £40 (€45) and the fastest one-way journey taking about an hour.
THE PAIR STRIKE AT SKRIPAL’S HOME
SUNDAY, March 4: From Bow, they retrace their steps – leaving the hotel at 8am to go to Waterloo on the Tube, and again to Salisbury by train.
The pair, one in a woollen hat and the other in a peaked cap, are caught on CCTV at Salisbury railway station at 11.48am wearing the same puffa jackets and jeans in which they arrived at Gatwick.
Ten minutes later they are spotted by another surveillance camera at a petrol station in Wilton Road, a short walk from Christie Miller Road – where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia lived.
Police say this was just moments before the attack, when novichok, in the perfume bottle, is believed to have been smeared on the door handle of the former spy’s safe house.
EN ROUTE TO RUSSIA THE VERY SAME DAY
ANOTHER CCTV camera picks up the suspects – by now grinning and looking relaxed – at 1.05pm in Fisherton Street, before stopping to look at Salisbury’s city hall. They then head for the rail station, where they take the 1.50pm train back to London, arriving 55 minutes later at Waterloo.
It was, by any standards, a quick turnaround for what was obviously a well-planned assassination attempt.
The next sighting of the men is after their arrival at Waterloo, at 4.45pm, when they board a fast train to Heathrow airport at 6.30pm. Less than an hour later – at 7.28 pm – they are spotted going through passport control and security without any questions being asked, prior to going airside. They then board their plane to Moscow’s international airport, Sheremetyevo, at 10.30pm.
LUNCH THAT ENDED IN HOSPITAL DASH
AS the plane sets off for Russia, the Skripals have been fighting for their lives in hospital for hours after coming into contact with the novichok.
They are likely to have been poisoned as a result of touching the front door handle as they left their house to go for lunch, by which time the would-be murder-
ers were already at Salisbury station and about to make a quick departure from the cathedral city.
Footage from CCTV at a pub shows Mr Skripal driving Yulia, 33, into Salisbury at 1.35pm on the Sunday. He parks his dark red BMW in the open air car park at the Maltings shopping centre at 1.40pm.
From there, he and his daughter walk to the Mill pub and on to the restaurant Zizzi, staying until 3.35pm.
Emergency services are called to help the father and daughter at 4.15pm as they sit on a bench near the restaurant after collapsing.
A police officer who tries to help them as they drift in and out of consciousness is also contaminated. An eyewitness says Yulia Skripal’s eyes are staring, she is foaming at the mouth and completely white. As the astonishing story emerges, the hunt begins for Britain’s most wanted men.
TRAGIC COUPLE WHO PICKED UP POISON
SATURDAY, June 30: Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44, are found unconscious and foaming at the mouth at a property in nearby Amesbury.
They found the perfume bottle used to transport the nerve agent in a charity bin near Queen Elizabeth Gardens – just over a mile from the Skripals’ house – which is immediately sealed off to the public.
Dawn had taken the bottle home to try it. Police said the couple were exposed to novichok and both are treated in hospital.
JUST DAYS LATER, DAWN STURGESS DIES
SUNDAY, 8 July: Scotland Yard launches a murder investigation after Ms Sturgess is pronounced dead. Mr Rowley is discharged nearly three weeks later.
THE CLUES TERROR POLICE COULD HOLD
MOSCOW sources say the British must have key information about the two men which they are keeping confidential.
Both men would have needed a visa to travel to the UK, and this means anti-terror police are expected to have extra details – including fingerprints or other biometric data required from Russians seeking to come here – which could reveal their true identities.
Britain is unlikely to get much help from the Russians.
In Moscow, a foreign ministry spokesman Maria Zhakarova said: ‘We once again urge the UK side to switch from public accusations and information manipulation to practical co-operation through law enforcement agencies.’
She said the names and photos of the two suspects released by the UK ‘say nothing’.
Meanwhile, Sergei Skripal’s niece Victoria – who has repeatedly asked to see her uncle and Yulia, who are now being guarded in another safe house – added: ‘So far I just see pictures of two people unknown to me. One is with a beard, the second is of Slavic appearance. Nearly half of Russia has the surname Petrov.’
HAD PAIR PLOTTED ATTACK FOR A YEAR?
THE names they used may be bogus, but the suspects appear to have used the same ones to visit Amsterdam, Geneva, Milan and Paris in recent months.
A leading Russian news agency, Fontanka, said ‘Petrov’ had travelled to London for six days in February and March 2017.
If true, was he getting the lay of the land? Was the assassination of what the Soviets viewed as a turncoat spy already being planned? Could he even have visited Salisbury?
Certainly, if he did come to Britain, it might explain how the novichok killers looked so at ease in England as they zig-zagged between London and Salisbury on their murderous weekend mission.