Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Novichok cops say assassin was a woman
COUNTER-TERROR police believe a female assassin was among the Russian hit-squad behind the Novichok nerve agent attack.
Detectives and MI5 have CCTV footage of some of the team who sparked the deadly poisoning.
Up to six people launched a revenge op targeting ex-moscow spy, turned MI6 mole Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on March 4.
The death of Dawn Sturgess and poisoning of her partner Charlie Rowley sparked a breakthrough four months into the investigation.
Sources say a mystery container which had carried the Novichok and is linked to the Skripal attack is a perfume bottle. It backs the theory that a woman may have been on the Skripal hit as her carrying a perfume bottle would have appeared natural.
As a woman she may also have posed much less of a threat to the Skripals. Police have revealed the deadly nerve agent was found on the Skripal’s door handle – a known method used by Russians.
It is thought a highly trained female Russian spy attached to Moscow’s feared GRU military intelligence unit was in the kill crew.
A western intelligence source told the Mirror: “It makes sense that a female officer may have been part of the team, playing a key role.”
Dawn and Charlie were exposed to the nerve agent on June 30 and tragically she died on July 8.
The MI5 and other intelligence agencies now believe the poisoning was launched by Putin’s main intelligence directorate, the GRU.
They are the same Moscow spooks who have been accused of hacking into the US National Democratic Committee’s emails, then using them to influence the American election. Up to 12 named Russian GRU officers have been indicted in America for having been involved in the alleged plot to manipulate the elections.