Hunt for assassin poison
Family fear Dawn is now on ‘brink of death’ Police hunt for more contaminated material
A DESPERATE search is under way for a deadly Russian nerve agent that’s left Dawn Sturgess and her partner critically ill.
AS THE latest victims of the Salisbury poison plot fight for their lives, the city is living in a state of fear knowing items contaminated with Novichok could still lie undiscovered.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, is on the “brink of death” and her boyfriend Charlie Rowley, 45, is critically ill after handling a “container” tainted with the Russian nerve agent.
Police think it was dumped by would-be assassins who targeted Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March, sparking a huge diplomatic row with Russia.
It is believed drug addict Charlie found the container while “scavenging” through bushes in Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury on Friday evening.
Counter- terror police are understood to have recovered the container from his home nine miles away in Amesbury, Wiltshire.
Scotland Yard said: “We now know they were exposed to the nerve agent after handling a contaminated item.
“Meticulous and systematic searches are under way at a number of sites. The safety of the public and our of f i c e r s remains paramount.
“The searches will take longer because of the precautions that we must take to ensure there is no outstanding risk.”
As Wiltshire Council admitted more Novichok could be in the area, Salisbury MP John Glen tried to reassure the public.
He said: “The latest incident is most likely the isolated result of discarded paraphernalia from the attack in March.
“The police will do all they can to prevent further risk to the public.”
More than a dozen people visited Salisbury Hospital yesterday
fearing they had also become Novichok poisoning victims but were given the all-clear.
One worried local Emma Rogers, 34, said: “They keep saying there is no risk to public health but that’s clearly rubbish.
“These two poor souls are members of the public and now they are maybe going to die.
“How can we trust what the authorities are telling us when they refuse to give us the whole story?”
Police extended cordons around Charlie’s home and the supported housing block in Salisbury where Dawn lives. Other residents there were evacuated, and a bin was sealed off, although it later emerged it had been emptied on Wednesday evening.
The couple became ill at Charlie’s home within five hours of each other on Saturday.
Dawn was visited in intensive care at Salisbury District Hospital yesterday by her mother Caroline.
A relative, who asked not to be named, said: “Charlie was looking stronger but Dawn is really in the danger zone. We fear she’s going to die. She’s in a worse state than Charlie. She is unconscious and on the brink of death.”
Film has emerged of paramedics taking Dawn unconscious from Charlie’s home on Saturday afternoon.
And CCTV footage showed her buying booze from two off-licences in the hours before the poisoning.
On Friday afternoon, she was at Charlie’s Store in Salisbury, close to the location where the Skripals were poisoned.
Charlie and Dawn went to the Queen Elizabeth Gardens, a haunt for drug users and drinkers, on Friday night. Friends said the pair were known for “scavenging” for items to sell. One pal said: “They are forever hunting through rubbish looking for stuff worth f logging. He’s probabl y seen something in the bushes and they both got contaminated.”
Sam Hobson, a friend, spent Friday with them. He said: “We’d walk all over town on a nice day and sit in the park. There was a little period in the park where they went off together. I’ve no idea where they went but they could have handled anything in that time.”
Another pal Craig Pattenden, 38, saw the couple on the bus back to Amesbury at 10pm on Friday.
He said: “Nothing seemed amiss, they seemed in a good mood. They’ve not been targeted. They must have just picked up something used in the original attack on the Skripals.”
Charlie’s brother Matthew Rowley told ITV News his sibling would be “finished physically” by the poisoning. He said: “I think it’s outrageous. If he has been affected by this thing the people need to be pulled to rights.”
Experts warned there would be a risk to public health if contaminated items were still in the area. Professor Andrea Sella, from University College London, said Novichok agents were designed to be “quite persistent”.
She said: “They hang around in the environment, neither evaporating nor decomposing quickly. If a container or a surface was contaminated it would remain a danger for a long time.”
Former military intelligence officer Philip Ingram said police had failed to focus on escape routes used by the poisoners. He said: “What they didn’t do was focus on the path the would-be assassins took and what happened to the container that agent was in.
“They could have thrown it under a hedge, they could have thrown it into a school playground, put it under the seat in a local train.
“By not focusing on that they have put the public at risk.”
Sergei and Yulia Skripal survived the assassination attempt and have been discharged from hospital.
How can we trust what the authorities are saying when they refuse to give us the whole story? EMMA ROGERS, 34, RESIDENT OF SALISBURY