Novichok inquest to examine Russian collusion

THE INQUEST into the Novichok death of Dawn Sturgess three years ago will examine whether the Kremlin was responsible for the chemical attack, and where the substance used to poison her came from, a coroner has said.

Coroner Baroness Hallett told a pre-inquest review at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday that looking at Ms Sturgess’s death in isolation could result in an “incomplete and potentially misleading investigation”.

She also vowed to pursue a “fair, fearless and thorough” investigation into the death.

Ms Sturgess, 44, collapsed at her partner Charlie Rowley’s home in Amesbury, eight miles from Salisbury, on June 30 2018, when she came into contact with a perfume bottle containing the deadly nerve agent Novichok. She died in hospital on July 8, while Mr Rowley was left seriously ill but recovered.

Her death followed the attempted poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, who were found unconscious on a park bench four months earlier.

Outlining the provisional scope of the inquest, Baroness Hallett said: “To my mind, there is very considerable force in submissions made by Mr O’Connor (Andrew O’Connor QC, counsel to the inquest) that to conduct an investigation into the death of Dawn Sturgess without investigating how Novichok got to be in Salisbury, and then in Amesbury, how or why it was brought to this country, who brought it and who directed them – this would be an incomplete and potentially misleading investigation.”

The hearing was adjourned until another pre-inquest review on a date yet to be set in June or July.