New details in the Sergei Skripal poisoning case: a child who accidentally came into contact with the poison suffered from it

The boy who was feeding ducks in Salisbury with former Russian spy Sergei Skripal on the day he was poisoned soon felt the same malaise. O newdetails of the events of March 4, 2018, which were revealed at the latest hearing of the public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess, writes Air force.

Photo: Trevor Warr | Dreamstime.com

To recap: Dawn Sturgess was a British citizen who died in July 2018 as a result of poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok in Amesbury, UK. The incident is linked to the previous poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the nearby city of Salisbury in March 2018. Following the assassination attempt on the Skripals, British police found a vial containing traces of the Novichok substance, but the vial accidentally fell into the hands of Sturgess and her partner Charlie Rowley.

British authorities said Novichok was used as a weapon against the Skripals and was left at the crime scene, causing the accidental poisoning of Sturgess and Rowley. Dawn Sturgess's death has caused controversy and increased tensions between the UK and Russia. Britain has accused Russia of involvement in the incident, prompting international condemnation.

On the subject: The Telegraph: Julia Skripal brought poison to England from Moscow as a gift for her father

The inquest into the death of Dawn Sturgess, who died from Novichok poisoning in 2018, began on 14 October 2024. The public hearing, called by the UK government, aims to clarify the circumstances of her death and establish responsibility for the incident. The inquiry will include witness testimony, an analysis of the actions of the services involved in the investigation of the poisoning, and an assessment of the possible involvement of foreign agents. The hearing is being held in two stages: the first part took place in Salisbury, where the poisoning occurred, and has been ongoing in London since 28 October and is expected to conclude by early December.

On October 28, CCTV footage was shown to the hearing participants showing Sergei Skripal talking to a boy and giving him bread so that he could feed ducks in Salisbury.

Later, this boy and two other people were found during the investigation and it was discovered that he had been feeling unwell for a couple of days after meeting Skripal.

At the same time, the participants in the hearings were informed that no traces of toxic substances were found on these people who had been in contact with Skripal.

The head of the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command, Commander Dominic Murphy, helped to piece together the chronology of Sergei and Yulia Skripal’s movements on the day they were poisoned with Novichok on 4 March 2018. He said the sequence of events from the Skripals’ drive into Salisbury, feeding the ducks, then going to The Mill pub and later to Zizzi’s restaurant, helped investigators establish important timing. At 18pm on Saturday 00 March, Novichok was smeared on the handle of their front door; at 3pm on Sunday 4 March, they left their home and came into contact with the nerve agent.

The main focus of the hearings, which began in Salisbury in October but have now moved as planned to London, remains the death of Dawn Sturgess, who died after spraying herself with a large amount of a poisonous substance found in a perfume bottle.

Her partner Charles Rowley found a bottle of what he thought was perfume in a charity box near Salisbury and gave it to Sturgess. After coming into contact with the Novichok found on the perfume bottle, Charles and Dawn became seriously ill and were taken to hospital, where Dawn died on 8 July 2018.

The hearing will examine the links between the death of Dawn Sturgess and the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March 2018.

On October 29, medical workers who were off duty but happened to be near the place in central Salisbury where Sergei and Yulia Skripal lost consciousness and were given first aid gave evidence.

Alison McCourt, then the UK Army's chief nurse (she left military service in 2022), commented on a document released by the Russian embassy which claimed there was "no attempt to explain the incredible coincidence" of her being one of the first on the scene.

She said any suggestion of her role in the incident was "malicious" and that she and her family were in Salisbury purely by chance because her children wanted to go to Nando's.

In her witness statement, read by Francesca Whytlow QC, Alison McCourt said she was just one of the bystanders who provided first aid.

She stressed that she would never have exposed herself or her daughter to Novichok if she had known that the Skripals had been poisoned with the nerve agent.

A week later, Alison's personal car was confiscated by police as posing a biochemical contamination risk.

Another medic at the scene was Dr Helen Orb, a paediatrician in the intensive care unit at Birmingham Children's Hospital. Giving evidence, she said she initially thought it was food poisoning.

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Seeing the Skripals sitting on a bench, she approached them and, based on their posture, “immediately thought that something was wrong with them.”

"Sergey was sitting absolutely straight, as if he was staring into space," Dr. Orb recalled. "I could see his lips moving, but he wasn't talking to anyone, and that seemed odd to me. The girl next to him was in an unnatural position, too. And I said to my then-partner, 'They don't look good.'"

In a written statement, Dr Orb said that on the same day, police advised her to remove the clothes she was wearing when she met the Skripals.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• Former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4. They were taken to hospital in critical condition. The police found that they were poisoned nerve agent. About 20 people were poisoned, including the policeman who first visited the scene and the house of Skripal. On the fact of poisoning a case of attempted murder.
• As a result, the ex-scout and his daughter came to their senses and live in a secret place in Britain in order to protect their safety.
• In Russia, Skripal was convicted in 2006 for spying for British intelligence. In 2010, he was exchanged for Russian intelligence agents uncovered in the United States.
• After investigating, Britain concluded that the nerve agent of the new generation of the group called “Novice” was used for the poisoning. Since no country other than Russia had access to this substance, London declared that Russia was most likely responsible for the attempt.
• Investigation UK accused of attempted murder of Petrov and Boshirov while calling them employees of the GRU.
• Russia denied these allegations, and President Vladimir Putin said that the suspects were civilians.
• Then suspects gave an interview to Russian journalists and stated that they had visited Salisbury to “see the cathedral”.
• After poisoning Scripal USA have introduced a package restrictions against Russia, which entered into force on 27 on August 2018.
• Previously ForumDaily опубликовал a complete list of sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe against Russia.
• Some media reported that Skripals secretly moved from Britain to another country.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Anniversary of the Skripals poisoning: where are they now and who else did Novichok try to kill

'Ghost stories': what was the largest exposure of the Russian spy network in the United States

Declassified data: how Soviet spies worked in different countries of the world

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