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Revealed: The UK government hasn't spoken to Russia about the murder of Dawn Sturgess

Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley came into contact with the Novichok nerve agent in July (PA Images)
Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley came into contact with the Novichok nerve agent in July (PA Images)

The UK Government has failed to contact Russia about the murder of a British woman who was poisoned on UK soil with the deadly Novichok nerve agent more than four weeks ago.

Dawn Sturgess died on 8 July eight days after she and her partner, Charlie Rowley, were exposed to Novichok in Amesbury, Wiltshire.

Her death came four months after the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury by the same chemical substance.

Theresa May confirmed at the time there was ‘no alternative conclusion other than the Russian State was culpable for the attack’ on the Skripals. Moscow denies any involvement.

And on 9 July, the day after Ms Sturgess died after spending a week in hospital, the Home Secretary Sajid Javid told Parliament is was ‘hard to see that that there is any other plausible explanation’ other than the Kremlin being responsible for her death.

Despite this, more than one month on, the government has admitted it has yet to make contact with Russia about her murder.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury after being exposed to Novichok (PA Images)
Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury after being exposed to Novichok (PA Images)

Responding to a question by crossbench peer Viscount Waverely in July, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister revealed no contact had been made with Russia or its agencies since March.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said: ‘The Prime Minister’s statement in the House of Commons on 12 March set out the questions the former Foreign Secretary asked of the Russian Government when he summoned the Russian Ambassador to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office earlier that day.

‘We still await a reply.’

This means no new communications have taken place since the second nerve agent incident, and that no channels have been opened since Jeremy Hunt replaced Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary.

MP Christine Jardine, the Lib Dem spokesperson for foreign affairs told Yahoo News UK: ‘It is unacceptable that the Conservative Government appear to have failed to have made any further contact with the Russian Government following the poisoning of Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley.

‘A British citizen has died. Ms Sturgess’ family, friends, and indeed all of us, deserve an explanation.

‘The new Foreign Secretary must make it an absolute priority to ensure that the Russian State provides answers regarding the reckless use of Novichok in Salisbury and Amesbury.’

Police and forensics officers investigate the death of Dawn Sturgess after she was poisoned by Novichok (PA Images)
Police and forensics officers investigate the death of Dawn Sturgess after she was poisoned by Novichok (PA Images)

An FCO spokesperson said that the department will ‘consider further options’ as the police investigation into Ms Sturgess’s murder develops, stating: ‘Police and security officials are working urgently to establish the facts of the incident, which is now being investigated as a murder. We must be led by the evidence, and avoid speculation.’

Counter-terror police are working to the theory that the Novichok that killed Ms Sturgess came from the same batch as that used in the attempted assassination of the Skripals.

Experts from the Porton Down research facility are trying to establish whether or not the nerve agents came from the same batch, but have so far been unable to confirm that this is the case.

Earlier this month Home Secretary Sajid Javid was asked in the Commons whether he agreed that ‘the most likely explanation [is] still that the Russians have been so careless about the way in which Novichoks have been used in the United Kingdom that this murder lies at the door of the Kremlin.’

He replied: ‘With this latest incident, we must be led by the evidence and see what the facts are as the police continue their investigation, but frankly it is hard to see that that there is any other plausible explanation.’

According to Ms Sturgess’s partner Charlie Rowley, who was also contaminated with Novichok on 30 June but survived, the substance that killed his girlfriend came from a perfume bottle in a sealed box that he found by chance.

Mr Rowley said he gave the bottle to Ms Sturgess, who sprayed the liquid inside onto her wrists.

He told ITV News: ‘I guess that’s how she applied it and became ill.

‘I guess how I got in contact with it is when I put the spray part to the bottle, I ended up tipping some on my hands but I washed it off under the tap.

‘It was an oily substance and I smelled it and it didn’t smell of perfume. It felt oily. I washed it off and I didn’t think anything of it. It all happened so quick.

‘Within 15 minutes Dawn said she had a headache. She asked me if I had any headache tablets.

‘In that time she said she felt peculiar and needed to lie down in the bath. I went into the bathroom and found her in the bath, fully clothed, in a very ill state.’

Dawn Sturgess’s funeral took place in Salisbury on 30 July, with more than 100 people in attendance.