Hunt for Novichok focuses on homes
The search for clues continued yesterday af ter the latest Novichok poisonings.
Investigators are hunting for traces of the potentially deadly nerve agent after Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner, Charlie Rowley, 45, were taken ill last Saturday.
Both fell ill after “handling a contaminated item” and remained in a critical condition last night.
Sal isbury and nearby Amesbury in Wiltshire are the focal points of the hunt.
Investigators wearing protective clothing entered the John Baker House assisted- living hostel in Salisbury, where mum- ofthree Dawn lives, after they took a sample from outside the building on Friday.
Other sites visited by the couple in the lead-up to their hospitalisation are being looked at, as detectives piece together their movements.
There was also a heavy operational presence at Charlie’s flat in Amesbury, where they both fell ill.
Police have been unable to locate the source of the contamination and have not ruled out more people falling ill from coming into contact with the substance left over after Sergei and Yulia Skripal were targeted.
One theory being probed is whether the pair inadvertently found the container used to hold the nerve agent in the Skripal attack before it was recklessly discarded.
The Metropolitan Police said: “The focus of the i nvestigation remains identifying the source of the contamination as quickly as possible. “