Alert spreads to Army base
THE nerve agent alert has spread to a military base – sparking fears contamination is worse than thought.
Emergency crews in chemical protection suits yesterday sealed off a road in Larkhill, Wilts, and removed a grey family saloon from outside houses belonging to senior army officers.
Sources said it may have been parked close to Sergei Skripal’s BMW in a Sainsbury’s car park on the day of the poisoning.
Counter-terror police are probing whether the would-be assassins placed a powdered variant of the poison in the BMW’s ventilation system while it was on the ex-spy’s drive.
Another theory is that it was smeared on the door handles.
Garrison town Larkhill is the country’s principal training establishment for artillery warfare.
Sources said the car removed from there was owned by a civilian not a serving soldier.
One resident said: “My best guess is it was parked near the spy’s car.
“Perhaps the owners called and said their car was close. Or they are collecting all the cars that were in the area in case they are contaminated. We just don’t know.” In another dramatic development, the home of a policeman poisoned by the nerve agent was sealed off.
Det Sgt Nick Bailey is recovering in hospital after receiving secondary contamination while investigating.
It is feared the 38-year-old may have carried traces of the Novichok back to his car and house. Soldiers and police sealed off the cul-de-sac in Alderholt, Hants, where he lives with wife Sarah, 37, and two young children.
There are now fears they, too, may have been exposed.
Investigators in hazmat suits used large army trucks to remove the family’s two cars.
A neighbour said: “We hope it’s just a precaution but we don’t know if the wife has been using the car. “The family were certainly staying at the address initially but don’t appear to be there any more.”
It is believed Det Sgt Bailey examined the maroon BMW the Russian drove hours before he collapsed.
He initially had a hospital check-up but was discharged only to fall ill later.
He was in a critical condition but is now said to be stable and met PM Theresa May on her visit yesterday.