Skripals were poisoned at their home, police believe

Skripals were poisoned at their home, police believe

Sergei and Yulia Skripal first came into contact with novichok at their home, detectives believe.

Specialists have identified the highest concentration of the nerve agent on their front door.

Detectives will continue to focus their enquiries around the address in Salisbury for the coming weeks - and possibly months - as the investigation continues.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said officers would conduct thorough searches in the areas surrounding the former spy's semi-detached property to gather evidence and as a precautionary measure.

Dean Haydon, the senior national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing, said: "At this point in our investigation, we believe the Skripals first came into contact with the nerve agent from their front door.

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"We are therefore focusing much of our efforts in and around their address. Those living in the Skripals' neighbourhood can expect to see officers carrying out searches as part of this but I want to reassure them that the risk remains low."

Image: Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal were poisoned

Traces of the nerve agent have been found at some of the other crime scenes that detectives have been examining over the past few weeks, but at lower concentrations.

A dozen policemen, who were not wearing protective overalls, searched an alley beside the victim's house on Wednesday for what is thought to be the first time.

The investigation into who poisoned Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter, 33, is one of the largest and most complex investigations undertaken by British counter-terrorism police.

The pair were found collapsed on a bench on Sunday 4 March in a critical state.

A Russian law enforcement committee which is running an investigation into the poisoning said it has sent a request to Britain to provide Moscow with legal assistance.

Moscow is seeking "the British colleagues to perform a number of procedural actions aiming at establishing the circumstances of the crime, as well as provide copies of the materials of the criminal investigation".

Russia is asking London to provide it "with the results of the inspection of the place where Yulia Skripal were found unconsciousness as well as with the results of her medical examination".

Meanwhile, New Zealand has said it will not allow entry to Russian diplomats expelled by other countries in response to the nerve agent attack.

About 250 counter-terrorism detectives are working around the clock on the investigation, according to the Met Police.

Salisbury nerve agent bench removed

More than 5,000 hours of CCTV is being examined and more than 1,350 pieces of evidence are being scrutinised.

About 500 witnesses have been identified and hundreds of statements taken.

On Wednesday, the 24th day of the investigation, Mr Haydon thanked the local community "for their continued support and understanding".

Specialist search officers are concluding their work at some of the locations involved in the investigation and turning the areas over to Wiltshire Police.

These areas include the London Road Cemetery, where investigators in hazmat suits were seen early on in the case.

The UK has accused Russia being responsible for the attack, resulting in more than 150 Russian diplomats being expelled from countries across the globe.

Russia rejects the accusation and has challenged the UK to prove the British intelligence services did not conduct the assassination attempt.

The best friend of Mr Skripal told Sky News he believes the poisoned double agent and his daughter are so critically ill they should be allowed to die. </s> British police launched a murder investigation Sunday after the death of a woman who was exposed to a Russian nerve agent.

Dawn Sturgess, 44, of Durrington, was exposed to the nerve agent Novichok in Amesbury, police said. Her boyfriend, Charlie Rowley, 45, also fell ill on June 30 and remains hospitalized in critical condition, police said.

About 100 police detectives led by the Counter Terrorism Policing Network are working on the case around the clock, police said. Authorities are still trying to determine where and how the two were exposed to the nerve agent.

"This is shocking and tragic news. Dawn leaves behind her family, including three children, and our thoughts and prayers are with them at this extremely difficult time,” said Neil Basu, an assistant commissioner who is head of Counter Terrorism Policing for the United Kingdom. "This terrible news has only served to strengthen our resolve to identify and bring to justice the person or persons responsible for what I can only describe as an outrageous, reckless and barbaric act.”

The couple were found by emergency services about 10 miles from Salisbury, where Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the same nerve agent on March 4. Britain blamed Russia for the Skripals’ poisoning.

“The working assumption would be that these are victims of either the consequence of the previous attack, or something else, but not that they were directly targeted,” Security Minister Ben Wallace told the BBC.

“Russia has categorically denied and continues to categorically deny the possibility of any kind of involvement to what was happening there,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters July 5. “The British side has not presented any evidence of Russia’s involvement in this, besides unfounded accusations.”

The case began with a 10:15 a.m. ambulance call June 30 to a residence in Amesbury, where Sturgess had collapsed. About 3:30 p.m., the ambulance was called to the same residence to care for the man.

The UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory confirmed on July 4 that Sturgess and her boyfriend had both been exposed to Novichok, police said. No one else at the scene developed the same symptoms.

Further tests from Sturgess and Rowley showed that they were exposed to the nerve agent after touching a contaminated item with their hands, police said.

Police said there is no evidence that either of them visited any of the sites that were decontaminated following the attempted murders of the Skripals. Police couldn’t say whether the four were all contaminated from the same batch of nerve agent. </s> Police in the United Kingdom have ruled out the possibility that two people who fell ill after eating at a restaurant in Salisbury had been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.

Wiltshire police declared a "major incident" on Sunday evening after it came to light that a man and woman had become unwell at a Prezzo restaurant, six months after a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Julia became the victims of Novichok poisoning in the same city.

"Due to recent events in the city and concerns that the pair had been exposed to an unknown substance, a highly precautionary approach was taken by all emergency services," police said in a statement.

"We can now confirm that there is nothing to suggest that Novichok is the substance," added the statement.

The pair were taken to Salisbury District Hospital, police said.

Police said it was "not yet clear" if a crime had been committed and that inquiries remained ongoing.

Skripal and his daughter were poisoned in March with Novichok, a nerve agent fabricated in Russia, and have since recovered after spending weeks hospitalized.

Weeks later in the nearby town of Amesbury, a British woman called Dawn Sturgess died having become ill after handling a bottle of perfume that contained Novichok.

Her partner, Charlie Rowley, also became ill but managed to make a recovery.

The UK has said Russia is behind the Novichok attack on the Skripals and accused two Russian citizens identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov of poisoning the ex-spy and his daughter. </s> London: Two people fell ill on Sunday when eating in a restaurant in Salisbury, the English city where former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in March, police said.

Police were called to the Prezzo restaurant in the evening in response to a "medical incident" involving a man and a woman, Wiltshire Police said in a statement.

"As a precautionary measure, the restaurant and surrounding roads have been cordoned off while officers attend the scene and establish the circumstances surrounding what led them to become ill," it said.

Britain has said Russian officers used the nerve agent Novichok to attack the Skripals. The Kremlin has denied any involvement.

Police have said a nerve toxin had been left on the front door of the Skripals’ home. They were found slumped in Salisbury city centre after visting the Bishop’s Mill pub and Zizzi, another Italian restaurant. </s> The Latest: Police say Britons were exposed to nerve agent

AMESBURY, England (AP) — The Latest on the major incident near Salisbury, England, in which two people have been left in a critical condition (all times local):

British police say two Britons who fell critically ill in the town of Amesbury were exposed to nerve agent Novichok, the same material used to poison a former Russian spy in a nearby area last spring.

Medical officials said Wednesday people who had been in the area where the couple had been should take precautions and wash their clothes.

Police said it is unclear if this incident is linked to the earlier poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, or if the batch was the same as the one that poisoned them on March 4.

Counter-terrorism police detective Neil Basu said it is unclear if the couple were targeted or if the poisoning was accidental.

British police say the two people in critical condition after being exposed to an unknown substance near where a former Russian spy was poisoned are British nationals.

Police said the couple was local to Amesbury, eight miles (13 kilometers) from Salisbury, where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with a nerve agent on March 4. Police did not name the couple, but friends have named them as Charlie Rowley 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44.

Authorities declared a "major incident" Wednesday after a man and a woman were found unconscious Saturday at a residential building in Amesbury.

Police stressed during a news conference that public health officials do not believe there is a significant health risk to the wider public.

British police say counterterrorism officers are working with local detectives after two people were sickened by an unknown substance in southwest England.

The Metropolitan Police says "officers from the counter terrorism network are working jointly with colleagues from Wiltshire Police" on the incident in Amesbury.

Police say a man and a woman in their 40s were hospitalized after being found unconscious at a residential building in Amesbury. The town is eight miles (13 kilometers) from Salisbury, where ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a nerve agent on March 4.

Police say they are keeping an open mind and do not yet know whether a crime has been committed.

British police declared a "major incident" Wednesday after two people were left in critical condition from exposure to an unknown substance a few miles from where a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent.

The Wiltshire Police force said a man and a woman in their 40s were hospitalized after being found unconscious at a residential building in Amesbury, eight miles (13 kilometers) from Salisbury, where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned on March 4.

Police cordoned off the building and other places the two people visited before falling ill, but health officials said there was not believed to be a wider risk.

The man and woman were hospitalized Saturday at Salisbury District Hospital, where authorities initially believed they might have taken a contaminated batch of heroin or crack cocaine.

"However, further testing is now ongoing to establish the substance which led to these patients becoming ill and we are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances surrounding this incident," police said. "At this stage, it is not yet clear if a crime has been committed." </s> British police on Sunday said a woman who was exposed to the nerve agent Novichok in Amesbury, near the southwestern town of Salisbury, had died.

London's Metropolitan Police said 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess died on Sunday in a Salisbury hospital and the case had now become a homicide investigation.

Police said Sturgess and 45-year-old Charlie Rowley, who remains in critical condition in hospital, were exposed to Novichok, the same type of nerve agent used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury In March.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she was "appalled and shocked" by the death.

The pair was found unconscious on June 30 at a house in a quiet neighborhood of Amesbury in the county of Wiltshire, just 12 kilometers (8 miles) from Salisbury, where the Skripals were poisoned.

Police said they suspected that the two were exposed to the nerve agent through a contaminated item left over from the first attack, which the UK has blamed Russia for.

Moscow has denied the claims. The UK's allegations resulted in tit-for-tat diplomat expulsions.

Read more: Opinion: Dealing with Russia, Theresa May finds herself alone at home

Experts at the nearby Porton Down military laboratory are so far not certain if the nerve agent came from the "same batch that the Skripals were exposed to," according to the Metropolitan Police's assistant commissioner of specialist operations, Neil Basu. </s> (CNN) — A woman who was exposed to a Soviet-era nerve agent in Amesbury, England, died on Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said.

The woman, identified by police as Dawn Sturgess, 44, was exposed to Novichok last week after handling a contaminated item. The same nerve agent was used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March.

“This is shocking and tragic news. Dawn leaves behind her family, including three children, and our thoughts and prayers are with them at this extremely difficult time,” Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, head of UK Counter Terrorism policing, said Sunday.

Charles Rowley, 45, who was also exposed to the nerve agent, remains hospitalized in critical condition, police said.

Test samples from Sturgess and Rowley show they were exposed to Novichok “after touching a contaminated item with their hands,” police said.

Detectives are working to identify the source of the contamination, police said, but a source has not yet been established. Police said there is no evidence that either Sturgess or Rowley visited any of the sites where the Skripals may have been poisoned. Skripal was discharged from the hospital in May and his daughter was released in April.

“We are not in a position to say whether the nerve agent was from the same batch that the Skripals were exposed to,” police said. “The possibility that the two investigations might be linked is clearly a key line of inquiry for police. However, it is important that the investigation is led by the evidence available and the facts alone.”

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday she was “appalled and shocked” by the death of Sturgess, according to a statement released by 10 Downing Street. May also said her “thoughts and condolences” go to Sturgess’ family and loved ones.

“Police and security officials are working urgently to establish the facts of this incident, which is now being investigated as a murder,” the statement read. “The government is committed to providing full support to the local community as it deals with this tragedy.”

Sturgess originally collapsed at an address in Amesbury on June 30 and was taken to the hospital, police said. Five hours after her collapse, police said, an ambulance was called back to the same address for Rowley, who also fell ill and was taken to the hospital.

Salisbury District Hospital treated Sturgess and Rowley. The hospital’s medical director, Dr. Christine Blanshard, said the staff “worked tirelessly to save Dawn.”

A police officer sought medical advice Saturday in connection with the ongoing investigation of the nerve agent exposure, but was given the “all clear,” according to Wiltshire Police.

UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid called Thursday for Russia to provide explanations after it was confirmed that Sturgess and Rowley were exposed to the same nerve agent as Skripal and his daughter.

Russia has denied any involvement in the Skripal incident. Still, more than 20 other countries have expelled Russian diplomats in a show of support for the UK.

“This terrible news has only served to strengthen our resolve to identify and bring to justice the person or persons responsible for what I can only describe as an outrageous, reckless and barbaric act,” Basu said.

Nerve agents kill by affecting the nervous system in various ways.

Novichok, which works by causing a slowing of the heart and restriction of the airways, is one of the world’s rarest nerve agents. Very few people outside Russia have experience with it.

It was developed in secret by the Soviet Union during the Cold War in the 1980s as a means of countering US chemical weapons defenses, but was revealed to the world by former Soviet scientist and whistleblower Vil Mirzayanov.

Mirzayanov told CNN that Novichok is up to 10 times as potent as VX, the weapon used to kill Kim Jong Un’s half brother, Kim Jong Nam, in 2017.

“A lethal dose … and the person will die immediately. If (the dosage) is less, (the person) will go through very tortuous scenes. They will start convulsions, and stop breathing and then lose vision, and there are other problems — vomiting, everything. It’s a terrible scene,” Mirzayanov said. </s> Two Russian nationals have been named as suspects in connection with the Salisbury poisonings in England.

Two Russian nationals have been named as suspects in connection with the Salisbury poisonings in England.

There is sufficient evidence to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with offences including conspiracy to murder over the Novichok attack on ex-Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March, Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service have said.

Neil Basu, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said it is likely the suspects were travelling under aliases and Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names. The pair are believed to be aged around 40.

The announcement will deepen the rift between Britain and Russia after the nerve agent attack sparked a wave of diplomatic expulsions by the UK and its allies.

British authorities are understood to believe several Russians were involved in the attempted murders, which also led to 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess becoming an indirect casualty of the poisoning.

A small amount of Novichok is thought to have been used in liquid form to target the Skripals in March.

In July, a source with knowledge of the investigation claimed two suspects had been identified and had left Britain after the attack.

It is understood the suspected perpetrators were identified through CCTV footage that was cross-checked with border entry data.

The UK Government has insisted it is "highly likely" Russia was behind the attack, but Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility.

Ms Sturgess died in July, with authorities believing she and boyfriend Charlie Rowley picked up a discarded vial containing the substance. The pair fell ill on June 30 in Amesbury, near Salisbury. Mr Rowley remains seriously ill in hospital. Police believe it is linked to the poisoning of the Skripals, who were discovered slumped on a bench on March 4 and have since been discharged from hospital.

Independent investigators have confirmed the nerve agent used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal was the same toxic chemical that killed Dawn Sturgess three months later.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OCPW) said it had confirmed the UK's findings, which concluded in July the substance used in Amesbury was Novichok.

Ms Sturgess, a mother of three, died eight days later having never regained consciousness. It is believed they were exposed to a military grade nerve agent from a perfume bottle discarded by those responsible for the attack on the Skripals.

The OPCW said: "The results of the analysis by the OPCW-designated laboratories of environmental and biomedical samples collected by the OPCW team confirm the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that intoxicated two individuals in Amesbury and resulted in one fatality.

"The toxic chemical compound displays the same toxic properties of a nerve agent.

"It is also the same toxic chemical that was found in the biomedical and environmental samples relating to the poisoning of Mr Sergei Skripal, Ms Yulia Skripal, and Mr Nicholas Bailey on March 4 in Salisbury."

Six months on from the attack in Salisbury, Russia has reiterated its belief that the UK is flouting international law by apparently keeping the pair from having contact with embassy officials.

A statement released by the Russian Embassy referred to the circumstances of the March attack as "obscure" and accused British authorities of keeping the Skripals in isolation ever since their release from hospital.

It said: "They remain out of the public eye at an unknown location, unable to communicate freely with their relatives, friends, journalists or Russian officials, deprived of the freedom of movement." </s> LONDON — Russia denied any involvement Thursday in the poisoning of a couple in Britain with a Soviet-developed nerve agent, four months after a Russian father and daughter were found poisoned with the same toxin in a nearby city.

Emergency services were called to the town of Amesbury in Wiltshire, southern England, on Saturday after the couple, Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44, were found unconscious in a property. They were taken to Salisbury District Hospital where they remain in critical condition.

Police said the pair were exposed to nerve agent Novichok. The couple were found by emergency services about 10 miles from Salisbury, where Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the same nerve agent on March 4. Britain blames Russia for the Skripals’ poisoning. Russia denies any involvement.

More: Nerve agent leaves couple in critical condition near site of UK spy attack

Related: Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal discharged from hospital after poisoning

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Russia had nothing to do with either incident.

“Russia has categorically denied and continues to categorically deny the possibility of any kind of involvement to what was happening there,” Peskov told reporters.

He said “the British side has not presented any evidence of Russia’s involvement in this, besides unfounded accusations.”

Authorities believe Rowley and Sturgess, British nationals with no known links to Russia, were not deliberately targeted.

“The working assumption would be that these are victims of either the consequence of the previous attack, or something else, but not that they were directly targeted,” Security Minister Ben Wallace told the BBC.

“I think what we said at the time was that this was a brazen and reckless attack in the heart of a very peaceful part of the United Kingdom, and that is part of the anger I feel about the Russian state … that they chose to use clearly a very, very toxic, highly dangerous weapon.”

British media said the couple could have somehow come into contact with Novichok residue from the attack on the Skripals, who have been taken to an undisclosed location after they were discharged from Salisbury District Hospital in April and May.

Sergei Skripal was jailed in Russia in 2006 for passing state secrets to Britain. He was released as part of a spy swap in 2010 and moved to Salisbury.

More: Who is Sergei Skripal? Russian spy found unconscious in English park sparks intrigue

Public health officials said the risk to the public is low, but advised people who had visited five locations in Amesbury and Salisbury between Friday night and Saturday evening including a park, a drugstore and a church to wash the clothing they were wearing and wipe personal items such as phones with cleansing or baby wipes.

Sam Hobson, a friend of Sturgess, said she was taken away on a stretcher after falling ill Saturday, the BBC reported. Hobson said she appeared to have a fit and was "foaming at the mouth" and that Rowley started "rocking against the wall” soon afterward, according to the BBC.

"His eyes were wide open, glazed and pinpricked, and he was sweating, dribbling and making weird noises,” Hobson added.

Russia is currently hosting the 2018 World Cup. If Russia and England win their next matches, the two teams could face each other in next week’s semi-finals.

Russia’s embassy in the Netherlands tweeted Thursday: "How dumb they think (Russia) is to use “again” so-called “Novichok” in the middle of the FIFA World Cup...The show must go on?"
Police investigating the attack say they believe the Skripals were poisoned at Sergei Skripal's home.