POISON CITY OF FEAR
AS the latest victims of the Salisbury poison plot fight for their lives, the city is living in a state of fear knowing items contaminated with Novichok could still lie undiscovered.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, is on the “brink of death” and her boyfriend Charlie Rowley, 45, is critically ill after handling a “container” tainted with the Russian nerve agent.
Police think it was dumped by wouldbe assassins who targeted Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March, sparking a huge diplomatic row with Russia.
It is believed drug addict Charlie found the container while “scavenging” through bushes in Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury on Friday evening.
Counter-terror police are understood to have recovered the container from his home nine miles away in Amesbury, Wilts.
Scotland Yard said: “We now know they were exposed to the nerve agent after handling a contaminated item.
“Meticulous and systematic searches are under way at a number of sites. The safety of the public and our officers remains paramount.
“The searches will take longer because of the precautions that we must take to ensure there is no outstanding risk.”
As Wiltshire Council admitted more Novichok could be in the area, the Salisbury MP John Glen tried to reassure the public.
ISOLATED
He said: “The latest incident is most likely the isolated result of discarded paraphernalia from the attack in March.
“The police will do all they can to prevent further risk to the public.”
More than a dozen people visited Salisbury Hospital yesterday fearing they had also become Novichok poisoning victims, but were given the all-clear.
One worried local Emma Rogers, 34, said: “They keep saying there is no risk to public health, but that’s clearly rubbish.
“These two poor souls are members of the public and now they are maybe going to die.
“How can we trust what the authorities are telling us when they refuse to give us the whole story?”
Police extended cordons around Charlie’s home and the supported housing block in Salisbury where Dawn lives. Other residents there were evacuated, and a bin was sealed off, although it later emerged it had been emptied on Wednesday evening.
The couple became ill at Charlie’s home within five hours of each other on Saturday.
Dawn was visited in intensive care at Salisbury District Hospital yesterday by her mother Caroline. A relative, who asked not to be named, said: “Charlie was looking stronger, but Dawn is really in the danger zone. We fear she’s going to die. She’s in a worse state than Charlie. She is unconscious and on the brink of death.” Film has emerged of paramedics taking Dawn unconscious from Charlie’s home on Saturday afternoon.
And CCTV footage showed her buying booze from two off-licences in the hours before the poisoning.
On Friday afternoon, she was at Charlie’s Store at Old George Mall, Salisbury, close to the location where the Skripals were poisoned. Charlie and Dawn went to the Queen Elizabeth Gardens, a haunt for drug users and drinkers, on Friday night. Friends said the couple were known for “scavenging” for items to sell.
One pal said: “They are forever hunting through rubbish looking for something worth flogging. He’s probably spotted something in the bushes and they both got contaminated.”
Former military intelligence officer Philip Ingram said police had failed to focus on escape routes used by the poisoners. He said: “What they didn’t do was focus on the path the would-be assassins took and what happened to the container that agent was in.
“They could have thrown it under a hedge, they could have thrown it into a school playground, put it under the seat in a local train. By not focusing on that they have put the public at risk.”
Sergei and Yulia Skripal survived the assassination attempt and have been discharged from hospital.