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.
A former spy and his daughter, who were poisoned by the deadly nerve agent Novichok, will not give evidence at the Russian-state Salisbury poisonings inquiry over fears for their safety.
The judge leading the inquiry said if Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are identified and their current whereabouts are discovered, the risk of an attack on them “is not properly controllable”.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after being exposed to the chemical weapon which was left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018.
Tara Cobham14 October 2024 08:30
Tara Cobham14 October 2024 08:00
Theresa May has said “justice is unlikely” for the victims of the Novichok nerve agent attacks, days before an independent inquiry begins into the Russian-state Salisbury poisonings of 2018.
The former prime minister told the BBC she hopes friends and family of Wiltshire woman Dawn Sturgess, who was killed after coming into contact with the Russian-engineered nerve agent, “will take some comfort” from the probe into her death, set to start on October 14.
Ms Sturgess, 44, died after coming into contact with a discarded perfume bottle which had housed the chemical weapon in Amesbury in July 2018.
Rachel Vickers-Price reports:
Tara Cobham14 October 2024 07:30
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.
Tara Cobham14 October 2024 07:00
Safety fears mean Skripals will not give evidence at Salisbury Novichok poisonings inquiry
In pictures: Victims of Novichok nerve agent attacks in Salisbury in 2018
Theresa May says ‘justice is unlikely’ for family of Novichok victim
Inquiry opens into poisoning of Dawn Sturgess via Novichok in Salisbury
