Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
POISONED COP: OUR NOVICHOK A G ISH
Salisbury detective is hit by depression and home loss
THE brave police officer who survived the Salisbury novichok attack says he is still struggling to get his life back together.
Detective Sgt Nick Bailey has tried to return to work three times but is still suffering from depression and memory loss.
He said: “The world has moved on, but I’m still trying to pick up the pieces.”
Mr Bailey, 40, was first at the home of Sergei Skripal, 66, in 2018 after the ex-spy and his daughter Yulia, 33, ingested the nerve agent planted by fellow Russians.
The policeman touched a door handle and spent two weeks in intensive care, while wife Sarah and daughters Eloise and Annabel, then 14 and 10, were moved into a hotel due to contamination fears.
Mr Bailey, who went back to work with Wiltshire Police again on Monday, said: “I’m not ashamed to say it’s had a massive impact psychologically. It really pulled the rug from under my feet.”
Britain charged Russian spies Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with attempted murder in their absence.
The poisonings are now the subject of controversial three-part BBC drama, The Salisbury Poisonings.
Mr Bailey feels the storyline is unfair on Sarah, played by Annabel Scholey.
On Tuesday, he tweeted: “Those scenes with Sarah could never truly reflect the extreme emotion and trauma she went through.”
Police bought their home and destroyed its contents. Mr Bailey added: “It was heartbreaking. It was our forever home, but we only lived there for two years.”
The Skripals recovered and moved to New Zealand but local Dawn Sturgess, 44, died months later, having touched a bottle left by the attackers.
DETECTIVE POISONED IN SALISBURY