Novichok detective tells of his ordeal
Father of two reveals how contamination resulting from nerve agent has left psychological scars
The police officer poisoned in the Salisbury nerve agent attack has revealed how he and his family lost their home and all their possessions. Det Sgt Nick Bailey became critically ill when he came into contact with Novichok while searching the house of Sergei Skripal, the former Russian spy, on March 5. The married father of two went home, potentially contaminating everything there, meaning all the family’s belongings were removed.
THE police officer poisoned in the Salisbury nerve agent attack has revealed how he and his family lost their home and all their possessions because of the deadly contamination.
Det Sgt Nick Bailey became critically ill when he came into contact with Novichok while searching the house of Sergei Skripal, the former Russian spy, on March 5. Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia had just inexplicably been taken violently ill in Salisbury city centre and police were trying to find out what had happened to them.
After unknowingly getting the same chemical on his hands at Mr Skripal’s property, the married father of two went home, potentially contaminating everything there.
Mr Bailey told the BBC programme Panorama that while he had eventually recovered from the effects of the nerve agent, the psychological damage would take more time.
He said: “I describe it as emotional battering and psychological impact. It’s taken longer to deal with just because of everything that has happened to us.
“Not only did we lose the house, we lost all of our possessions, including everything the kids owned, we lost all that, the cars… We lost everything. And yes, it’s been very difficult to come to terms with that.”
Mr Bailey recalled that when he began to feel ill that day, he simply put it down to tiredness and stress. But when his condition suddenly worsened, he was taken to hospital.
He said: “Everything was juddering. I was very unsteady on my feet. The sweating had gone from my forehead down my back. My whole body was dripping with sweat.
“I was conscious throughout the whole time… It was painful at the beginning… I had lots of injections. I had five or six infusions at any one time in my arms. One of the Skripals was in the room right next to me. It was all guarded.” The officer had become contaminated despite wearing protective forensic police overalls.
Describing the events, he said: “I was the first person in the house… We had to make sure there were no other casualties. It was vital for us to find out what had happened to them.
“The house was in darkness. It just looked normal… I came out of the house, secured it, we took our forensic suits off and went back to the station.”
A short time later he began to feel unwell, although he did not connect it with the search.
He said: “My pupils were like pin pricks. And I was quite sweaty and hot. At that time I put it down to being tired and stressed.”
Recalling the moment he was told he had the nerve agent Novichok in his system, he said: “I didn’t understand how it had happened – scared, because it’s the fear of the unknown – it’s such a dangerous thing to have in your system. Knowing how the other two [Yulia and Sergei Skripal] were or how badly they’d been affected by it, I was petrified.” It took two weeks before the investigation established that the nerve
‘Everything was juddering. I was unsteady on my feet. The sweating had gone from my forehead down my back’
agent had been sprayed on the door handle of Col Skripal’s house.
Mr Bailey said: “I don’t know whether, if it’s gone through the gloves, I don’t know whether, I mean, I could have adjusted my face mask and my goggles while I was in the house with it being on my hand. Voicing his anger at the recklessness of the attack, he said: “It’s such an outrageous, dangerous way of doing something. It angered me because any number of people could have been affected by that.”
Mr Bailey said his thoughts were with Dawn Sturgess, the woman who died weeks later, after coming into contact with the Novichok she and her partner had found in a discarded perfume bottle. He said: “My heart goes out to Dawn and her family. I was able to walk out of hospital and, sadly, she wasn’t.”
Last night the detective leading the investigation into the posioning told the BBC that the amount of nerve agent found in the perfume bottle was enough to kill thousands of people.