Fears nerve agent could have spread as Dorset town is linked to poisoning
Spy was driving before he collapsed, but tow truck that later removed his car remained on the roads
‘People have been walking past it, touching it and stuff, so if there’s a danger from it then it’s a bit late now’
THE nerve agent that poisoned Sergei Skripal was feared to have spread to Dorset last night as CCTV images showed the Russian spy driving just hours before he collapsed.
Officers in gas masks and chemical protection suits yesterday descended on a quiet street in the small town of Gillingham, a 45-minute drive from Salisbury.
They spent the morning preparing to remove a tow truck belonging to Ashley Wood Motors, at least one of whose vehicles has already been seized for examination after it was thought to have been used to tow Mr Skripal’s BMW from the Sainsbury’s car park in Salisbury where he had left it.
Police last night began house-to-house inquiries near Mr Skripal’s home as part of what is being called “Operation Lime”, asking residents when they last saw him, what they knew about him and if they had recently seen any suspicious activity in the area.
It came as footage showed Mr Skripal’s car travelling towards Salisbury city centre, its driver and passenger just a few short hours from collapsing from the effects of Novichok, the deadly Russian nerve agent.
In the maroon BMW 3 Series, are Sergei Skripal, 66, the former Russian spy, and Yulia, 33, his daughter, heading towards a supermarket car park.
Less than three hours after passing the Devizes Inn, from where the video was shot, the pair were found collapsed on a bench on the banks of the River Avon, in a comatose state after succumbing to the nerve agent’s deadly effects.
The CCTV images show Mr Skripal and Yulia at 1.35pm driving on Devizes Road, a short distance from his home on the edge of Salisbury, heading towards Sainsbury’s car park and The Maltings shopping centre.
From here they went to The Mill pub and then, at 2.20pm, to the Zizzi restaurant – where some traces of the deadly toxin were later found – before going through Market Walk and slumping on to a bench, where they were discovered just after 4pm by members of the public who alerted the emergency services.
Police have appealed for witnesses who may have seen Mr Skripal and his daughter in the BMW between 1pm and 1.40pm.
These images, seized by the police but independently obtained by this newspaper, are the first to show their car during that crucial window.
Police investigating the attack are also understood to be talking to members of the Russian expatriate community, particularly in London, in the hope of gathering information that may lead to a breakthrough in the ongoing inquiry.
Yulia Skripal and her father, who came to this country following a spy swap in 2010, are still fighting for their lives in Salisbury District Hospital, as tension continues to grow between Britain and their native Russia.
In a sinister development, it emerged last night that the Russian embassy in Britain plans to ask for consular access to Yulia, indicating officials want to question her over the attack.
The new CCTV images come as the search for clues to the identity of the would-be assassins widened to Dorset, as police removed a tow truck linked to the car driven by the pair. It emerged that a police patrol had carried out a brief inspection of the truck three days ago, but the vehicle was left where it was. It was only early Wednesday morning that officers in special clothing returned, covered it in plastic sheeting and began loading it on to an Army low-loader.
A teenage boy living close to the scene said: “That truck has been parked there for a week and the police came and looked at it three days ago but left it. People have been walking past it, touching it and stuff, so if there’s a danger from it, then it’s a bit late to take it away now.”
Jane Mcqueen, 69, said: “The police began sealing off the road last night and returned this morning with lots of equipment. A friend of mine was told it’s linked to the poison attack in Salisbury and that’s quite worrying, frankly.
“When it was in Salisbury it was already on our doorstep, now it’s here in little old Dorset.”
She added: “You expect these events to happen in the big cities, like London, not here.”
A Met Police spokesman said: “Multiagency forensic teams continue to undertake tests and scene examinations at various sites in Salisbury to trace the existence of the nerve agent used in this attack.”
The developments came as the family of Mr Skripal claimed in a bizarre Russian media interview that an “angry woman” could be behind the attack on him and his daughter.
They claimed that Yulia Skripal was planning to get married, but the mother of the groom, allegedly a high-ranking security service agent, was deeply opposed to the marriage.