Emergency Cobra summit in response to spy attack

Double agent and daughter fighting for their lives

Investigators have been summoned for emergency talks on the crisis in Salisbury, where the fallout from a suspected nerve agent attack continues to widen.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd will chair a meeting of the Government’s Cobra committee at 3pm today to receive updates on the police case.

Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are still fighting for their lives after being exposed to a toxic substance in the Wiltshire city last Sunday.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was part of the initial response by authorities, is also in a serious condition.

Police yesterday turned their attention to the cemetery where the 66-year-old Russian’s wife and son were laid to rest.

Officers in hazmat suits were seen placing a blue forensic tent over his son’s memorial stone before appearing to stuff items in several yellow barrels.

The grave of Mr Skripal’s wife, Liudmila, who was buried in 2012, and the memorial stone of his son Alexander, who was cremated last year, were cordoned off at the London Road cemetery.

Apparent fears of chemical contamination have also seen Mr Skripal’s home cordoned off while detectives attempt to pin down the origins of the substance used to incapacitate him.

A short distance away, a convoy of military vehicles rolled into the car park at Salisbury District Hospital to recover a police car.

Around 180 troops, including Royal Marines, RAF Regiment troops and chemical warfare specialists, are understood to have been deployed after Scotland Yard requested specialist help.

Mr Skripal and Yulia, 33, are still in a “very serious” condition five days after they were discovered slumped on a bench in the city centre.

Suspicion is mounting that Russia carried out the attempt on their lives as an act of revenge against the former intelligence officer, who was convicted in 2006 of selling state secrets to MI6.

The Kremlin denies responsibility and British ministers have urged caution over apportioning blame until the facts become clear.

Lord Blair, a former Met Commissioner, suggested on the BBC’s Today programme that DS Bailey had visited Mr Skripal’s home.

He said: “There obviously are some indications the officer, and I’m very sorry that he has been injured, has actually been to the house, whereas there was a doctor who looked after the patients in the open who hasn’t been affected at all.”

Police said 21 people had been seen for medical treatment since the incident.

The attack is being treated as attempted murder.

Picture: PA. A convoy of police and military vehicles leaves Salisbury District Hospital yesterday.