Britons had larger dose of Novichok than the Skripals
NOVICHOK victims Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley were exposed to a ‘ substantially higher’ dose of the nerve agent than former KGB spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, sources said yesterday.
Mrs Sturgess, 44, died on Sunday and Mr Rowley, 45, is in a critical condition in a coma after they apparently handled an item discarded following the attack on the Skripals in Salisbury on March 4.
The kremlin denies accusations that it tried to assassinate Mr Skripal with Novichok and that it is responsible for the death on Sunday of Mrs Sturgess, a mother of three.
The hunt for the source of the deadly poison intensified yesterday as police admitted they may never find it.
Police sources said a ‘working hypothesis’ was that while visiting Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury, Wiltshire, on friday, June 29, Mr Rowley and Mrs Sturgess picked up a container for the Novichok used in the attack on the Skripals that was hastily disposed of four months earlier. They then passed it between themselves, depositing the deadly toxin – which can be absorbed through the skin – on their hands.
Detectives believe either Mr Rowley or Mrs Sturgess may have carried it home, possibly thinking it was valuable – and could have dumped it in a bin, which could lead to a search of landfill sites.
Yesterday, Mrs Sturgess’s grieving family said they were ‘devastated’ by her death.
Referring to Mr Rowley’s prognosis – a source said: ‘It doesn’t look good.’ He is said to have ‘just days to live’.
Police are desperate to find the contaminated object handled by the couple to prevent anyone else picking it up. It is likely to be made of glass, but is not thought to be a syringe.
Public health experts are examining whether minute quantities of Novichok entering the water system or the food chain after the container was left exposed to the elements for four months. Meanwhile, a red ford Transit van in which Mr Rowley was a passenger on June 30 – the day after the couple were contaminated – is being tested by the Government defence research laboratory at Porton Down in Wiltshire.
Three other men who travelled in the van show no signs of having been exposed to Novichok.
Yesterday, Home Secretary Sajid Javid chaired a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency response committee to discuss the Novichok threat.
Speaking outside New Scotland Yard, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: ‘ It is utterly appalling that a British citizen has died having being exposed to a Novichok nerve agent. But we’re determined to find out how Dawn and her partner, Charlie Rowley, came into contact with such a deadly substance and will do everything we can to bring those responsible to justice.
‘Their reaction was so severe, it resulted in Dawn’s death and Charlie being critically ill. This means that they must have got a high dose and our hypothesis is that they must have handled a container we are seeking.’
Mrs Sturgess died on Sunday evening, more than a week after being admitted to hospital. Her father Stephen, 65, said his family was ‘devastated’.
Yesterday, Wiltshire Police Chief Constable kier Pritchard said there was ‘a real concern’ that the container may not be found. In order to locate it, Porton Down scientists are understood to have recreated the attack on the Skripals.
They are trying to identify the type of equipment needed to transport the Novichok and administer it so frontline officers conducting the search can be briefed on what to look for.
The investigation has been hindered because police were unable to speak to Mrs Sturgess before she died and Mr Rowley remains in a coma.
‘It doesn’t look good’ ‘Handled a container’