Novichok inquiry: Probe opens into nerve agent death of Dawn Sturgess in Salisbury
The public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess, who died in the Salisbury Novichok poisonings, is set to open on Monday.
Ms Sturgess, 44, was killed after coming into contact with the Russian-engineered nerve agent, which was present on a discarded perfume bottle, in Amesbury in July 2018.
The 44-year-old’s contact with Novichok followed the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter who were poisoned in nearby Salisbury in March that year. Police officer Nick Bailey also fell ill after becoming exposed to the chemical.
They were poisoned when members of a Russian military intelligence squad are believed to have smeared the nerve agent on Mr Skripal’s door handle.
All three survived, as did Ms Sturgess’s boyfriend Charlie Rowley, who had unwittingly given her the bottle containing the killer chemical weapon.
Ahead of the opening of the inquiry, former prime minister Theresa May told the BBC on Friday that “justice is unlikely” for the victims, but she said she hopes Ms Sturgess’s friends and family “will take some comfort” from the probe into her death.
The inquiry will sit all week in Salisbury, before adjourning for a week and resuming the week commencing 28 October in London.
Inquiry opens into poisoning of Dawn Sturgess via Novichok in Salisbury
The public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess who was poisoned by Novichok in Salisbury is set to open.
The independent probe into the Russian-state Salisbury poisonings of 2018, which is chaired by retired Supreme Court justice Lord Hughes of Ombersley, is to begin evidence hearings at the Guildhall in Salisbury on Monday.
Ms Sturgess, 44, was killed after coming into contact with the Russian-engineered nerve agent, which was present on a discarded perfume bottle, in Amesbury in July 2018.
The 44-year-old’s contact with Novichok followed the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter and ex-police officer Nick Bailey, who were poisoned in nearby Salisbury in March that year.
All three survived, as did Ms Sturgess’s boyfriend Charlie Rowley, who had unwittingly given her the bottle containing the killer chemical weapon.
The inquiry will sit all week in Salisbury, before adjourning for a week and resuming the week commencing 28 October in London.