‘Novichok nerve agent was in perfume bottle’

The Novichok nerve agent that poisoned two people in Amesbury was reportedly contained in a perfume bottle.

Matthew Rowley told the BBC that his brother Charlie, who is seriously ill in hospital, said he had picked up the perfume bottle containing the chemical weapon.

The Metropolitan Police, who are leading the investigation, declined to comment on the allegation.

Previously the force has said only that the Novichok was found in a small bottle at Mr Rowley’s home in the Wiltshire town.

Mr Rowley, 45, and his partner, Dawn Sturgess, 44, were exposed to the nerve agent last month and the mother of three died in hospital a week later.

Experts are trying to determine whether the Novichok that poisoned them was from the same batch used in the attempted murder of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in nearby Salisbury in March.

Police have warned that the searches of properties in Salisbury and Amesbury could last months after recovering 400 exhibits, samples and items.

Counter-terror detectives are trying to establish where the bottle came from and how it came to be in Mr Rowley’s home.

Meanwhile, Ms Sturgess’s son, Ewan Hope, 19, has called on US President Donald Trump to raise his mother’s death with Vladimir Putin when they meet in Helsinki.

“I don’t share Donald Trump’s politics and I’ll never be a supporter of his, but I would like him to raise mum’s case with the Russian president,” he said. “We need to get justice for my mum.”

The government has blamed Russia for the failed nerve agent attack on the Skripals.