Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘Perfume’ bottle was in our home for days before I gave it to Dawn as a gift.. then she sprayed the Novichok all over her wrists.. – NERVE AGENT SURVIVOR CHARLIE ROWLEY TELLS HOW SKRIPAL POISON KILLED PARTNER
HEARTBROKEN Novichok survivor Charlie Rowley has told how he gave his tragic partner a perfume bottle containing the deadly chemical.
Charlie, 45, feels guilty over Dawn Sturgess’s death after giving her what he believed was luxury scent.
It is thought the toxin had been discarded following the failed attempt to kill former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 67, and daughter Yulia, 33, on March 4.
Police finally lifted the cordon around Dawn’s supported-living accommodation in Salisbury last night after finding no contamination.
The bottle had been in Charlie’s home for a number of days and he gave it to mum-of-three Dawn, 44, on June 30.
She died in Salisbury District Hospital nine days later.
After being discharged, Charlie said: “They say I’m lucky but I don’t feel lucky that I’ve lost my partner. I felt to blame. I still do.”
Having been poisoned, Charlie cannot remember exactly where he found the bottle. He said: “It may have been in the Salisbury area or possibly Amesbury.
“I’m not sure. It may have been on the side of a path. It would be wrong of me to say I found it in a place and not be sure.” He thinks he kept it in his flat for a few days.
He said: “It was a 3x3in cardboard box with a plastic moulding which contained a glass bottle and plastic dispenser which you had to attach.”
While putting on the spray attachment the “oily” feeling substance got all over on his hands but he washed them. This saved his life.
He said: “She recognised the bottle and product as a known brand – and I thought I was doing nothing more of it than giving her a gift.
“It looked expensive. Unfortunately it turned out to be… to be a bad find.” Within 15 minutes of rubbing the “perfume” on her wrists, Dawn complained of a headache and quickly deteriorated.
Charlie said: “She asked me if I had any headache tablets. I had a look around the flat. In that time she said she felt peculiar and needed to lie down in the bath. At the time I thought it seemed a bit strange and I went into the bathroom and found her in the bath, fully clothed, in a very ill state.
“I was in complete shock. I didn’t know what to do. My first reaction was maybe she’s just overreacting or something. But I could tell it was more than that. Within a minute I could tell she wasn’t faking anything. She was having a proper attack of some sort.
“I was talking to her the whole time. I couldn’t get any response. She was fading so quickly.
“I phoned 999. It seemed like for ever I was waiting for the ambulance to turn up. I felt helpless,” he told ITV News.
The Novichok still got into his system but he cannot remember much. He said: “Apparently I was stumbling and foaming at the mouth and acting very peculiar. I was in complete shock when the police told me it was Novichok.”
Charlie woke from a 10-day coma on July 10 to discover Dawn had died.
He said: “I was still ill at the time. I couldn’t piece it together.”
He said: “Dawn was a lovely lady. She had a big heart and she would help anyone she could. She had so much time for her daughter and her two boys.”
Charlie hopes the culprits are brought to justice and urges the public not to pick up any discarded items.
He said: “If the police were to find out who caused it, it’d mean a great deal to me. Be very careful of what you pick up.”