HOW COULD IT HAPPEN AGAIN?
As two more are left in comas by deadly nerve agent that poisoned spy and daughter in the same city . . .
A COUPLE are fighting for their lives in hospital after being exposed to remnants of the nerve agent that nearly killed a former Russian spy and his daughter.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, and Charles Rowley, 45, fell desperately ill within hours of visiting Salisbury – the site of the attempted assassination of Sergei and yulia Skripal.
They had visited a park near where the Skripals were found collapsed in March. Police confirmed they had been exposed to novichok, which is one of the most toxic substances known to man. Even a pinprick can kill.
As security chiefs held a late-night meeting of the Government’s emergency response committee Cobra:
Friends said Mr Rowley and Mrs Sturgess were hallucinating and foaming at the mouth before they collapsed;
Relatives said they were in a critical condition and remain in comas at Salisbury hospital;
The authorities face urgent questions over whether the multi-million pound Salisbury decontamination operation has failed;
Whitehall sources insisted the poison used to attack the Skripals ‘effectively lasts forever’.
Mrs Sturgess, who is a mother of
three, was rushed to hospital on Saturday morning after collapsing at her boyfriend’s home in Amesbury, seven miles from Salisbury. Mr Rowley, who relatives said is a recovering heroin addict, fell ill eight hours later.
At first police suspected the couple may have taken a contaminated batch of drugs. But in the early hours of yesterday Wiltshire Police launched a major investigation after experts warned they were suffering the symptoms of nerve agent poisoning.
They brought in Scotland Yard, the security services, public health officials and experts from the Porton Down laboratory, based just a few miles away.
Neil Basu, counter-terrorism chief for the Metropolitan Police Service, said: ‘Due to concerns over the symptoms the man and woman were displaying, samples from both patients were sent to Porton Down laboratory for analysis.
‘Following the detailed analysis of these samples, we can confirm that the man and woman have been exposed to the nerve agent novichok, which has been identified as the same nerve agent that contaminated both Yulia and Sergei Skripal.
‘The latest update we have from the hospital is that both patients remain in a critical condition. Both are British nationals and are local to the area. Officers are still working to identify their next of kin.’
Neighbours told of their fears last night about their own safety and that of their families. Justin Doughty, a neighbour of Mr Rowley, said: ‘I’ve got children and it’s really worrying because we don’t know what’s going and we’re not being told anything.’
Ian Goldsmith, 64, who lives opposite the park the victims visited, said: ‘It’s not what
‘He was gabbling incoherently’
we need. It’s already been three months of everything cordoned off. It affects our pubs, our restaurants, our businesses.
‘I don’t see how someone could have picked it up. It must have been a fresh attack. They have spent millions cleaning the place.’
Investigators are urgently retracing the couple’s steps to try to identify where the suspected poisoning occurred.
Friends said the couple spent Friday afternoon and evening in Salisbury, where they visited a number of shops, including an offlicence, mobile phone store and chemist.
They also bought food and a blanket from a charity shop so they could relax in the sun in Queen Elizabeth Gardens in the city.
The couple’s close friend, mechanic Sam Hobson, 29, said Mrs Sturgess went to hospital first. He then went to Boots with Mr Rowley to collect a prescription before attending a church fair. When they returned home Mr Rowley began to feel unwell too.
Mr Hobson recalled: ‘He started sweating. His T-shirt was soaking wet. He got up and started rocking against the wall.
‘His eyes were wide open and red, his pupils were like pinpricks. He began gabbling incoherently and I could tell he was hallucinating. He was making weird noises and acting like a zombie. I phoned an ambulance.
‘At first they thought it was drugs but they know now it isn’t.’
Mr Hobson said both victims were being held in isolation at Salisbury District Hospital. Police have locked down Queen Elizabeth Gardens, a popular family park on the outskirts of Salisbury, and Mrs Sturgess’s flat in a hostel in the city centre.
In January she moved into John Baker House, a homeless shelter 300 yards from the Zizzi Italian restaurant where the Skripals ate before they collapsed.
Officers have also cordoned off Mr Sturgess’s housing association home on a newly-built estate in Amesbury, close to Stonehenge.
Neighbour Amy Ireland, 32, said the estate was packed with firemen, police and paramedics on Saturday. ‘There was a huge commotion. Cordons were set up and people were being moved back,’ she said. ‘People thought it was a gas leak at first.’
Police also cordoned off the Baptist church which staged the fair and a branch of Boots was closed as a precautionary measure.
Roy Collins, secretary of Amesbury Baptist Church, said: ‘This is a real surprise and shock to us - we do continue to keep the couple in our prayers.’
Mrs Sturgess’s cousin, 31-yearold Ross Hewitt, said she was in an induced coma after suffering a seizure and a heart attack. He said: ‘She has never had seizures before. It was out of the blue. Her partner, shortly after the call that she made to the medical services, also suffered a seizure and a heart attack which was a bit weird.’
The investigation comes four months after the chemical weapon attack on the Skripals sparked an international outcry.
The British Government accused the Kremlin of co- ordinating the attempted hit years after Mr Skripal, 67, arrived in the UK in a spy swap. Investigators believe the novichok nerve agent was smeared on their front door and the Skripals unwittingly contaminated swathes of Salisbury. The father and daughter spent weeks in hospital before being released. They are now living in secret locations under new identities and police guard.
Scotland Yard continues to investigate and senior detectives hope to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.
Mr Basu added: ‘At this stage, no one else has presented with the same symptoms linked to this incident. The priority for the investigation team now, is to establish how these two people have come into contact with this nerve agent.
Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England, said: ‘I want to reassure the public that the risk to the general public remains low.
‘Those in Salisbury and its surrounding areas will be concerned with this news, particularly those who’ve recently visited the areas now cordoned off by the police.
‘My advice for any individual that may have been in any of the areas is higly precautionary. Wash your clothes and wipe down any personal items, shoes and bags with cleansing and baby wipes before disposing of them in the usual way. This is the same public health advice I gave during the previous incident, but now as a belt and braces approach.
‘I should also warn the public to be careful, as always of picking up any unknown or already dangerous objects such as needles and syringes.
‘You do not need to seek advice from a health professional unless you are experiencing symptoms as any individual, who had been significantly exposed at the same time, would by now, have symptoms.’
She added: ‘Those people from the area who are concerned should call NHS 111.’