Novichok detective: We’ve lost everything
He tells how family’s cars, possessions and even children’s toys had to be destroyed
A POLICE officer left fighting for his life after the Salisbury novichok attack has revealed that he and his family ‘lost everything’ following the poisoning.
Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey was left critically ill when a Russian hit squad was sent to the Wiltshire city to murder former Soviet spy Sergei Skripal in March.
The father of two was among three officers to search the Skripal home after Sergei and his daughter Yulia, who was visiting him from Moscow, were found unwell.
Two days later, he was admitted to hospital where he was found to be suffering from the effects of the devastating nerve agent.
In his first interview, Det Sgt Bailey admitted he was ‘petrified’ when he was told novichok had been found in his system.
He added that while he had physically recovered, his emotional well-being was a ‘different kettle of fish’.
The officer, 38, had unwittingly contaminated his house by going home to bed after the shift that saw him enter the Skripal’s property house.
As a result, he and his wife Sarah, 37, and their children can no longer live there.
He told BBC’s Panorama: ‘Physically I think I bounced back pretty well thanks to the hospital. [My emotional wellbeing], that’s a different kettle of fish. That’s taken longer. I describe it as emotional battering and psychological impact. It’s taken longer to deal with just because of everything that
‘I don’t understand how it happened’
has happened to us. Not only did we lose the house, we lost all of our possessions, including everything the kids owned, we lost all that, the cars. We lost everything.’
Det Sgt Bailey, of Wiltshire Police, was on duty on the afternoon of Sunday, March 4 when emergency services were called to help the Skripals, found slumped on a bench in the city centre, at around 4.15pm.
He was sent to the Skripals’ house to ensure no other casualties were there, with no idea novichok had been smeared on the door handle. Det Sgt Bailey – who was first to enter and was wearing a forensic suit – began to feel unwell shortly afterwards.
‘My pupils were like pin pricks. And I was quite sweaty and hot.
‘At that time I put it down to being tired and stressed,’ he said. He hope to sleep it off, but by Tuesday he was feeling worse so his family rushed him to hospital. Revealing the impact the agent had on his body, he said: ‘Everything was juddering, I was very unsteady on my feet. The sweating had gone from my forehead down my back. My whole body was dripping with sweat.’
Recalling the moment he was told he had the deadly nerve agent in his system, he said: ‘I didn’t understand how it had happened, scared because it’s the fear of the unknown because it’s such a dangerous thing to have in your system. Knowing how the other two [Yulia and Sergei Skripal] were or how badly they’d been affected by it, I was petrified.’
Meanwhile, the scientist in charge of dealing with chemical threats at the Government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, who can only be identified as ‘Professor Tim’, said identifying the substance was a ‘jaw-dropping moment’. He added: ‘I went through a number of emotions from disbelief to anger. It’s one of the most dangerous substances known. It’s quite unique in its ability to poison individuals at very low concentrations.’
Det Sgt Bailey was treated alongside the Skripals at Salisbury District Hospital. While they were in a coma, he remained conscious. ‘I was conscious, throughout the whole time... It was painful at the beginning... I had lots of injections. One of the Skripals was in the room right next to me. It was all guarded by the police.’ It wasn’t until 15 days after the attack that the probe discovered the substance had been sprayed on to the door handle of the Salisbury home.
‘It’s such an outrageous, dangerous way of doing something that it angered me as well because any number of people could have been affected by that,’ Det Sgt Bailey added. He was unsure as to how he had become contaminated despite wearing the forensic suit.
Det Sgt Bailey left Salisbury District Hospital after two-and-a-half weeks on March 22.
He said: ‘I have passing moments where I think about how it could affect me. But I can’t control that, it’s happened now and we just have to take each day as it comes.’
When asked if Nick Bailey should have been better protected, Wiltshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills told the BBC programme: ‘I guess hindsight’s a wonderful thing.
‘The emergency services, they will respond to what’s in front of them, unless there’s something obvious which would indicate that actually they should be wearing personal protective equipment which gives them that higher level of protection, then we take things as we find them.’