My life will never be the same, says nerve gas attack detective
Police officer returns home after becoming unwitting victim of Novichok agent targeted at ex-russian spy
THE officer who helped Sergei Skripal and his daughter when they were attacked with a nerve gas in Salisbury has said his life will never be the same.
Det Sgt Nick Bailey said he was concentrating on rebuilding his life after suffering the effects of the deadly Novichok poison that was used to target the colonel and Yulia Skripal.
He spoke after being discharged yesterday morning from Salisbury District Hospital, where the Skripals remain in a critical condition.
In a statement, Det Sgt Bailey said: “I recognise that normal life for me will probably never be the same and Sarah and I now need to focus on finding a new normal for us and our children.”
He added: “I have spent all my time since the incident really focusing on trying to get better and trying not to think about anything else.
“I want people to focus on the investigation – not the police officer who was unfortunate enough to be caught up in it. All I have done is represent every police officer who goes out there every day and puts their life at risk.”
Despite his words, his wife described her husband as a hero. She said: “Nick doesn’t like the term, but he has always been a hero to me and our children.”
Mrs Bailey, who said she and her husband had been overwhelmed by messages of support from the public and colleagues, added: “This has quite simply been the most traumatic event of our life and it feels like our world has been turned upside down.”
Mr and Mrs Bailey spoke as reports emerged that a second police officer was receiving treatment for suspected poisoning. The constable is understood to have developed minor symptoms, including skin irritation, and is receiving outpatient treatment.
A source said: “It is unclear how he became ill but it is possible that he came into contact accidentally with an object that could have had some secondary contamination.”
The reports illustrate the danger faced by police at the locations visited by the Skripals before they succumbed to the poisoning. These include Col Skripal’s home, the Mill Pub and Zizzi’s restaurant in Salisbury, where the pair ate shortly before collapsing on a bench near the Maltings shopping centre.
Col Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter were found slumped on the bench on March 4 and were described by witnesses as being in a “catatonic state”. The Russian government was blamed for the attack on the former MI6 agent, who was exchanged in a spy swap with Moscow and who moved to Britain in 2010.
Detectives are trying to establish whether the nerve agent which left the Skripals fighting for their lives was inserted into Col Skripal’s car or unwittingly brought from Russia in Yulia’s suitcase. Forensics experts have pored over the locations the pair visited, including a cemetery and Col Skripal’s maroon BMW Series 3 car, in an attempt to determine how the nerve agent was administered.
Inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons continued their own examination of the key locations and yesterday visited Col Skripal’s home in Christie Miller Way, which has been cordoned off by police ever since the attack took place.
Kier Pritchard, Wiltshire’s acting chief constable, said only once all the evidence had been gathered would decontamination of cordoned-off areas begin, before the sites would finally be allowed to return to normal public use.
‘Nick doesn’t like the term, but he has always been a hero to me and our children’