NOVICHOK VICTIM S HEART STOPPED FOR 30 MINUTES

Son prays for mum as cop is rushed to hospital

NOVICHOK victim Dawn Sturgess’s heart stopped for 30 minutes and her son fears she may have been left brain-damaged.

Son Ewan Hope, 19, says her brain was deprived of oxygen for half an hour after her heart attack and she is only alive thanks to quick-thinking paramedics.

He spoke before a police officer was rushed to Great Western Hospital in Swindon last night with suspected nerve agent symptoms.

Police guarded the Accident and Emergency unit.

A hospital spokesman said: “The individual is now being taken to Salisbury District Hospital which has the ability to carry out the appropriate specialist tests.”

Dawn, 44, was also under police guard on a life-support machine at Salisbury General Hospital, where Ewan donned gloves up to his elbows to stroke her hair and hold her hand.

He said: “I told her, ‘I love you, mum. I just want you to wake up and get better’.

“My whole family are scared. We are trying to stay strong but there have been tears. I’m worried I’m going to lose mum.”

He’s desperate for the Russian nerve agent touched by his mum in Salisbury to be found.

“I would hate for any other family to go through the hell we have suffered,” he said.

Mother-of-three Dawn and boyfriend Charlie Rowley, 45, were both still critically ill last night in Salisbury General, seven days after collapsing at his home in nearby Amesbury, Wiltshire. They were poisoned by the same novichok used in the attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March. Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, 38, was also hit and spent weeks in hospital recovering. Authorities have warned hundreds of people who came close to Dawn and Charlie and their homes to urgently wash clothes and wipe down mobile phones. Police can’t guarantee others won’t be poisoned as questions are asked over the clear-up after the assault on the Skripals. Ewan said of visiting his mum: “I had to put on a blue plastic gown and long orange gloves because they told us we can’t touch her skin-to-skin. “They said it isn’t airborne, so we didn’t have to wear a mask or hat. It felt awkward talking but doctors said she can hear. “They said she had the same symptoms as the Skripals, including foaming at the mouth. Things are worse for mum though as they said the Skripals didn’t have heart attacks.” Jobless Ewan added: “She has 12 medications going into her body in one drip and the ventilator is breathing for her. It has taken a real toll on her body because she’s 5ft 6ins but only seven stone.”

Forensic experts in hazard suits were last night still searching Dawn’s hostel room in Salisbury and Charlie’s house in Amesbury as drones scoured a sealed-off playground, near where it is believed she touched the novichok.

Investigators have taken a sample from a windowsill at the hostel, close to the bench where the Skripals were found unconscious. Ewan discovered his mum’s plight from his nan hours after she was struck down. He said: “Nan said Charlie had called her while the paramedics were giving mum CPR and he was really panicked. “They did CPR for 30 minutes as her heart wasn’t beating. She is strong but because there was no oxygen to her brain for 30 minutes, doctors fear brain-damage.” Ewan is supporting brother Aiden, 22, while staying with other relatives.

It is thought Dawn and Charlie came into contact with a contaminated container in Queen Elizabeth gardens in Salisbury on Friday last week. Police had still not found the source last night.

Novichok interferes with the central nervous system and attacks muscles round the heart, leading to cardiac arrest. A drop which is almost undetectable can cause death within minutes if placed on the skin or inhaled.

Ewan is upset at claims his mum could have been infected by picking up a syringe or cigarette butt coated with novichok. He said: “It’s nonsense. Police don’t think it was from contaminated drugs as there were none in her system. She has had a severe problem with alcohol for six years and living in supported accommodation for the last two years.

“But she’s cleaned herself up. She told Charlie if he ever took drugs she’d leave him.”