Massive breakthrough in Russia link

BY CHRIS HUGHES THIS is a massive breakthrough. It is highly likely tests will link the latest poisonings with the attempt to kill Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

The size of the bottle may reveal a great deal about the potency of the Novichok and help point the finger at details of the bottle. Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess, who lived in Salisbury, were found unconscious and foaming at the mouth at his home on June 30. Police first suspected contaminated drugs but two days later announced it was Novichok. The Russia. It is unimaginable they would dispatch it in a container with Russian markings.

But MI5 will conduct an “audit trail” to find out where the container is likely to have come from. new find could shed fresh light on the attack on Mr Skripal and daughter Yulia. Neither has so far been able to give investigators any useful information.

But the Novichok found on Wednesday first needs further tests to confirm if it is the same batch as the one used on the Russians.

Experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have been asked to independently confirm the identity of the poison.

Wiltshire Chief Con Kier Pritchard called the find significant but still warned people not to pick up objects in public places.

He said: “The overall risk is low but the advice is simple. If you didn’t drop it, don’t pick it up.”

Last night Mr Rowley’s friend Danny Bricken said: “It’s a massive relief they have found it.

“He would pick up anything that lad. God knows when he found it. He probably didn’t have a clue he had it.”