Super recognisers hunt for Skripal suspects

DETECTIVES investigating the Salisbury chemical attack have drafted in “super recognisers” to scour thousands of hours of CCTV, it has emerged.

Two Scotland Yard officers with innate abilities to identify, remember and compare faces, are trying to spot those responsible for the Novichok nerve agent poisoning in March. It is thought at least two Russian suspects carried out the attack on Sergei Skripal, a former spy, and his daughter Yulia, before fleeing to Moscow.

The super recognisers are in a team of detectives examining 5,000 hours of CCTV from across Salisbury, and are looking for matches with images of airline passengers leaving the UK in the hours and days after the attack.

Mick Neville, a former senior Met detective who set up the squad, said the super recognisers were able to spot people even if they were trying to disguise themselves.

He said: “They have an innate skill shared by only around one per cent of the population.”

Scotland Yard has a team of six officers who have been identified as having this skill, but forces also use registered members of the public.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman refused to confirm the use of super recognisers.