Novichok ‘is still out there

HITMEN HID 2ND DEADLY CACHE

ANOTHER bottle of novichok could have been dumped by poison hitmen who brought terror to Britain.

Police now fear the nerve agent which killed Dawn Sturgess was not from the same cache used in the assassination attempt on ex-spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, Wilts.

The oily substance which Dawn sprayed on herself was in a sealed package disguised as perfume.

A Whitehall source said: “The net keeps widening – they almost can’t predict what’s going to turn up next.

“The bottle they put it in could only have been bought in Russia.

“If this bottle was sealed it means they used another on the Skripals’ front door. Where the other one is could be anyone’s guess.”

Meanwhile investigators believe at least two teams of Russian hitmen were responsible for the Skripal attack.

Disguised

They are working on the theory one group arrived to plant the lethal substance weeks before Sergei Skripal, 67, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were poisoned. A second team then arrived to administer the nerve agent.

Officials believe assassins disguised the poison that killed Dawn as perfume to get it through customs and into the UK for the attempt on Skripal’s life.

The source said the killers’ carelessness in concealing novichok inside a Russian product suggests they probably also dumped the rest of the poison.

One or both groups of hitmen could have been here for some time before the March attack. Investigators believed the Skripals were trailed in the days before being targeted.

It is understood two people who could be connected to the attempt on Sergei Skripal’s life have been identified via CCTV facial recognition.

But the manhunt could take months, as it is believed the assassins fled Britain after their failed hit. The Skripals spent weeks in hospital but have been discharged.

Dawn, 44, fell victim to novichok some three months after the Skripal attack. She died in hospital earlier this month after falling ill when she sprayed it on herself on June 30.

Her boyfriend Charlie Rowley, 45, was also exposed to the nerve agent at his home in Amesbury.

Public health officials have now warned people in Wiltshire to steer clear of unidentified containers.

Mr Rowley, speaking after he left hospital last week, said he could not remember where he found the bottle of “perfume” which killed Dawn. He said he often searched through bins for “treasure” and sealed packages often caught his eye.

Dawn had sprayed the substance on her wrists at his home in Amesbury, eight miles from Salisbury.

Mr Rowey said: “I guess that’s how she applied it and became ill. I guess I got in contact when I put the spray part to the bottle... I ended up tipping some on my hands, but I washed it off.

“It was oily and didn’t smell of perfume. I washed it off and I didn’t think anything of it. It all happened so quick.

“Within 15 minutes, Dawn had a headache. She said she felt peculiar and needed to lie down in the bath. I went in and found her in the bath, fully clothed, in a very ill state.”

Public Health England has helped organise Dawn’s funeral – to protect mourners. The Rev Philip Bromiley, who will conduct tomorrow’s crematorium service in Salisbury, said: “Various precautions are in place. The coffin will be in situ before everybody arrives. I have no concerns.”

He did not know if Charlie Rowley would be attending and added: “We will be praying for Charlie at some stage. According to the family they do not refer to Charlie as the partner, they just call Charlie a friend.

“Dawn was a really lovely, helpful, giving person.”