Deadly dose

British police open murder probe as one of two nerve agent victims dies.

SALISBURY: British police rushed to solve a murder mystery after a woman died following exposure to the nerve agent Novichok, four months after the same toxin was used against a former Russian spy in an attack that Britain blamed on Moscow.

Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday said she was “appalled and shocked” by the death of Dawn Sturgess, a 44-year-old mother of three who had been living in a homeless hostel in the city of Salisbury in southwest England.

Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, 45, fell ill last weekend in the town of Amesbury, near Salisbury, the city where former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked with the Novichok nerve agent in March and have since recovered.

Local MP John Glen said the local community was “anxious” after police opened a murder inquiry, although health officials have said the danger to the general public is low.

Glen told BBC radio the two may have handled a contaminated object because of their “habit of looking into bins” and police were trying to work out “how they came into contact with this nerve agent and when”.

Britain and its allies accused Russia of trying to kill the Skripals, prompting angry denials and sparking an international diplomatic crisis.

Police said they would be led by the evidence but confirmed a link between the Amesbury case and the Salisbury attack was a main line of inquiry.

Interior minister Sajid Javid last week demanded answers from Moscow, saying he would not accept Britain becoming a “dumping ground for poison”. Russia hit back, denouncing Britain for playing “dirty political games”.

Police said the British couple were believed to have become exposed to Novichok by handling a “contaminated item”, with speculation that it could have been the container used to administer the nerve agent to the Skripals.

However, police and public health officials insist the risk to the wider public remains low.

A police officer was tested for possible exposure to the deadly nerve agent over the weekend but was given the all-clear.