The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Novichok officer is still ‘picking up pieces of life’
POLICE: BBC drama depicts events that left Det Sgt Bailey fighting for survival
A police officer who almost died after investigating the Salisbury poisonings said he is still trying to pick up the pieces of his life.
Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey has made a third attempt to return to work this week, two years after being poisoned with Novichok.
Det Sgt Bailey was the first person to enter the home of Sergei Skripal after the Russian former double agent and his daughter Yulia were rushed to hospital after being poisoned by the deadly nerve agent on a park bench in Salisbury.
The case that led Britain to accuse Russia of attempted murder and charge two Russian intelligence agents with the poisoning has been turned into BBC series The Salisbury Poisonings.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Det Sgt Bailey, 40, has detailed the torment he and his family endured after he was accidentally poisoned at the Skripals’ home after grasping the door knob.
Det Sgt Bailey had worn a protective suit and latex gloves, but was later told his glove was “saturated” by the powerful nerve agent.
What followed was a two-week stay in intensive care – during which his wife and two daughters feared he would die – as well as the loss of the Baileys’ family home and possessions due to contamination fears.
Although Det Sgt Bailey was discharged from hospital within three weeks, he could not then go home, since he had unknowingly carried Novichok into the residence.
While he was in hospital, police had seized Det Sgt Bailey’s home and its contents, fearing the risk of contamination too high. They moved his wife Sarah and daughters Eloise and Annabel, then 14 and 10, into a B&B.
While Sarah had packed some belongings into four suitcases, police took the decision to buy the house and destroy all its contents. They had done the same to the Skripals’ house and had removed the park bench where they had sat when poisoned.
While the Baileys have now bought a new home, the policeman suffers with depression and memory loss.
He attempted to return to work in September 2018, and in January 2019, but both times “couldn’t deal with being in a police environment”.
He returned again on Monday, joining a neighbourhood police team to build his confidence. If that proves unsuccessful, he will look for a different job.
The Skripals, like Det Sgt Bailey, also recovered and, after more than a year in an MI6 safe house, moved to New Zealand.
But local woman Dawn Sturgess, 44, died months after the incident, having picked up the discarded perfume bottle used by Russian agents to hold the Novichok.
Russian agents going by the names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov have been charged in absentia over the poisonings, with Interpol Red Notices and European Arrest warrants issued.