Witness was told Salisbury victims ‘were Russian’

A WOMAN who sat next to one of two people who fell ill prompting a Novichok scare at a Salisbury restaurant has said that police told her the two victims were Russian.

Amanda Worne, 47, from Yapton, near Arundel, West Sussex, said that “armageddon” broke out as police and emergency services responded to the incident at the Prezzo restaurant in High Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, at 6.45pm on Sunday.

A major incident was declared when a man in his 40s and a woman in her 30s became unwell at the restaurant and were taken to Salisbury District Hospital. Roads were cordoned off and police and paramedics in protective suits were deployed amid heightened tensions following the deadly Novichok attack in the city.

Wiltshire Police later confirmed that Novichok was not involved.

Mrs Worne said that she had gone to the restaurant with a friend, where she sat next to the woman, whom she described as a “beautiful blonde”.

She said: “She kept getting up and down and acting a little unusual. She went up to the toilet and came down hysterical – ‘Oh my God, we need an ambulance, we need an ambulance, someone help.’”

Mrs Worne said the paramedics arrived quickly and, after seeing the couple, rushed out and returned with protective clothing.

She said: “The next thing it was all carnage, it was armageddon, there were sirens, ambulances... We were told by a police officer there were two Russians showing symptoms of the Novichok virus and we would probably have to go to hospital.”

Mrs Worne added that she was later given the all-clear.

Wiltshire Police would not comment on the pair’s nationality.