Novichok poison was ‘in perfume bottle’

Victim who survived may have picked up potential source of poisoning from under bush, brother reveals

The nerve agent that poisoned two people in Amesbury was contained in a perfume bottle, it has been claimed. Matthew Rowley told the BBC that his brother Charlie, who remains seriously ill in a Salisbury hospital, told him that he had picked up the perfume bottle. The claim raises the question of whether his partner Dawn Sturgess, who died just over a week after being poisoned by Novichok, sprayed what she thought was perfume on herself.

THE nerve agent that poisoned two people in Salisbury was contained in a perfume bottle, the brother of one of the victims has claimed.

Matthew Rowley told the BBC his brother Charlie, who remains seriously ill in Salisbury hospital, told him that he had picked up the perfume bottle.

The claim will raise the question of whether his partner Dawn Sturgess, who died just over a week after being poisoned by Novichok, sprayed what she thought was perfume on herself, effectively self-administering a lethal dose of the nerve agent.

Detectives are urgently working to establish how the perfume bottle came to be in the couple’s flat, how Ms Sturgess seems to have received a higher dose, and whether the Novichok it contains comes from the same batch used in the attack on Sergei Skripal, the former Russian agent, and his daughter Yulia on March 4.

Counter-terrorism police believe that a Russian hit squad smeared the poison on Mr Skripal’s front door at his home close to Salisbury city centre.

It had been thought that Mr Rowley, 45, and Ms Sturgess, 44, had subsequently been poisoned when they accidentally handled a syringe or container that had been used in that assassination attempt. The current theory is that they were contaminated when they picked up the perfume bottle after finding it hidden under a bush in a park in Salisbury on the afternoon of Friday, June 30.

The Metropolitan Police, which is leading the investigation, declined to comment. It has previously said that it had found a “small bottle”.

While the main source of the contamination has now been located, police have warned there could be more traces of Novichok at other locations. Several key sites, including Mr Rowley’s Amesbury address and Ms Sturgess’s flat in Salisbury, remain sealed off, and cordons will remain in place for some time.

Matthew Rowley, who has spoken to his brother on the phone, told BBC News that he was still upset about his brother’s condition. He said he was “absolutely not the brother I know”, but that he was now eating solid food.

Medical staff say Mr Rowley’s condition continues to improve in hospital.

Ewan Hope, Ms Sturgess’s son, has called for Donald Trump to raise the poisoning with Vladimir Putin when the leaders hold talks in Helsinki today.

The Russian state has denied any involvement.

Ms Sturgess’s family have been told it could be months before her body can be released for a funeral to take place.

Speaking over the weekend, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the head of UK Counter-terrorism Policing, warned: “We cannot guarantee that there isn’t any more of the substance left.”