Novichok poisons two new victims: Salisbury couple in comas after contact with nerve agent used on Skripals

A couple taken critically ill at the weekend were poisoned by the same nerve agent used against Sergei Skripal, the former Russian spy, and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, it was confirmed on Wednesday night.

Police said tests carried out at the Porton Down government defence laboratory had established that Charles Rowley, 45, and his girlfriend, Dawn Sturgess, 44, had been exposed to Novichok.

The incident comes four months after Mr Skripal, 67, and and his 33-year-old daughter were poisoned in a suspected Russian backed assassination attempt and will lead to fears that the public in Salisbury could still be at risk. Authorities will now face questions over whether the multi-million pound decontamination effort failed.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said there was nothing in the couple's background to suggest they had been deliberately targeted, but said detectives were looking at whether the two incidents were linked.

He said there was no evidence that Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess had visited any of the sites previously decontaminated before they took ill, but a major clean up operation will now have to be launched once again in Salisbury in a fresh blow to a city that underwent months of major disruption last time around.

Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, said people who had visited the areas that have been cordoned off in the city over recent days should wash their clothes and wipe down any items they were carrying at the time. She also urged not to pick up any "unknown or already dangerous objects such as needles and syringes".

Health officials made efforts in the weeks following the Skripal attack in March to assure residents there was no wider public health risk, and the latest poisoning follows extensive efforts to try to attract visitors back to the city.

Last month the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall paid a visit to the city to offer support to locals affected by the widespread disruption.

"We cannot underestimate the impact the shocking news of a second major incident in this part of our county in such a short space of time will have," Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Kier Pritchard said.

"The communities in Salisbury and Amesbury have shown extraordinary resilience and spirit since the events of March 4 and I have no doubt they will rise to this latest challenge in the same way."

Around 100 counter terror officers from Scotland Yard and detectives from Wiltshire will now be seeking to establish whether the poisoning was caused by traces of Novichok that were not found in the original decontamination operation.

Ms Sturgess was rushed to hospital on Saturday morning after being taken ill at her boyfriend's flat in Amesbury.

Mr Rowley was admitted to Salisbury District Hospital - where the Skripals were treated for three months - later that day after displaying similar symptoms.

Because Mr Rowley is a registered heroin addict, police and doctors initially thought the incident was connected to a batch of contaminated illegal drugs.

But a major incident was declared early on Wednesday when they failed to respond to treatment and doctors recognised startling similarities to the symptoms displayed by the Skripals.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid will chair a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergencies committee on Thursday, Downing Street said.

Speaking on Wednesday night Mr Javid said:  "I want to express my thanks to the emergency services and staff at the Salisbury District Hospital for their tireless professionalism in dealing with the incident in Amesbury. It follows the reckless and barbaric attack which took place in Salisbury in March.

"The Amesbury investigation is ongoing and the police must be given the space they need to continue establishing the full facts."

Moscow has denied any involvement in the deliberate poisonings of the Skripals, but the latest development comes at a particularly sensitive time as Russia hosts the World Cup finals – and could face England in the semi-finals.

Mr Rowley, who has a daughter, and mother-of-three Ms Sturgess were understood to be in a critical condition in comas on Wednesday night.

Friend describes moment pair fell ill

A friend of the couple, Sam Hobson, 29, described how the pair were frothing at the mouth and hallucinating after they suddenly became ill.

He said he had visited Mr Rowley’s flat in Muggleton Road, Amesbury, nine miles north of Salisbury, at around 11am on Saturday to find a number of ambulances outside. He said: “Dawn was on an ambulance stretcher and Charlie was in tears, saying she’d been complaining of a headache and then started having a fit.”

Video: Friend recalls couple before they became ill

While paramedics took Ms Sturgess to Salisbury District Hospital, Mr Rowley went to a nearby Boots Chemist in Amesbury to pick up his daily methadone prescription.

The pair then went on to Amesbury Baptist Centre, where free food had been laid on as part of a community event. But when they returned to Ms Sturgess’s flat to pack some clothes for her to have in hospital Mr Rowley also fell ill.

“Charlie started sweating and acting strange, rocking back and forth, his eyes wide open,” said Mr Hobson. “He wasn’t responding to me so I called an ambulance."

Mr Hobson said the previous day the three of them had visited several locations in Salisbury close to the riverside bench at the Maltings shopping centre where the Skripals collapsed.

He said: “We went to Boots in Salisbury centre, then we bought some red, white and blue hair spray for the England game. Then we went to the EE shop because Dawn wanted to replace her broken phone.

“After that we went to the Barnardos shop and to Poundland before going to Lizzie [Queen Elizabeth] Gardens to sit and chill in the sun and have a drink.”

Areas pair visited before they fell ill cordoned off

The Queen Elizabeth Gardens have since been sealed off by police investigating the couple’s collapse.

After declaring a major incident, police sealed off all the areas the couple had been in the hours before they fell ill. Police also sealed off Ms Sturgess’s home in John Baker House, a property used by social services to accommodate people with drug and alcohol problems, which is just a two-minute walk from the Zizzi restaurant where the Skripals ate before collapsing from the effects of Novichok.

The Amesbury Baptist Centre was guarded by one police officer.

Roy Collins, church secretary, said: "Last weekend we held a community fundraiser and we understand this may well be the last event this couple went to in public."

He said he woke to find the church cordoned off by police at 6am on Wednesday.

"We are all quite puzzled and shocked - naturally the connection with Salisbury and recent events there mean there is a heightened public interest," Mr Collins added.

"We are praying for the couple, one of our members knows them and clearly there are concerns for them and any others in the community. They are not church members or regulars."

Mr Collins said around 200 people attended the community event, including many families and children, but "nobody else has suffered any ill-effects".

"There have been no reports of any other incidents," he added. "It was a beautiful, sunny day and it was a glorious event, there was nothing going on that was nefarious. This is a real surprise and shock to us - we do continue to keep the couple in our prayers."

Meanwhile, crime scene investigators were present at a cordoned-off park in nearby Salisbury.

Police were unable to confirm this was linked to the Amesbury incident, but neighbours of Queen Elizabeth Gardens said the cordon appeared in the early hours of Wednesday.

Police also sealed off a Boots pharmacy in Amesbury town centre, a short drive from the estate.

Among the services offered by the chemist is a needle exchange facility for addicts to obtain clean needles.

Boots UK said: "We can confirm that one of our stores in Amesbury has closed this morning as a precautionary measure at the request of the police as part of their standard investigation protocol."

'There was a huge commotion': How firefighters in chemical suits descended on road

Some of the homes on the new-build estate in Muggleton Road are social housing owned by the Stonewater Housing Association.

Neighbours spoke of their anxiety at not knowing what was behind the declaration of a major incident on their street.

Nicola Trowell, 23, who works for Wiltshire County Museum in Devizes, said: “At first we heard it might be drugs and that these two had succumbed to the effects of what they’d taken. 

"Then when they said they didn’t know what the substance was we started thinking ‘Oh, not not again! Is it another Russian poisoning case?’. 

“Hopefully it’s just geographic coincidence that it’s happened so near Salisbury. The place could do without it. We really don’t know what’s going on and I hope we get told soon what it is. It’s worrying.”

Video: Police arrive in Amesbury

Justin Doughty, a father living on the estate, said: “Its scary. I’ve got children and you want to know if they’re in danger. But nobody in authority is telling us anything.”

The first residents became aware of the incident was on Saturday when firefighters in chemical protection suits arrived at the house.

Householder Amy Ireland said the estate was packed with firefighters, police and paramedics on Saturday. 

The 32-year-old said: “We were on our way back from my 10-year-old son’s football presentation. There was a huge commotion. Cordons were set up and people were being moved back.

“People thought it was a gas leak at first. Now we don’t know what to think. It’s very worrying. My son plays out here on the green. First Salisbury, now this.”

College student Chloe Edwards described seeing police cars, fire engines and people in "green suits" on Saturday night.

"We saw everything," the 17 year-old, who lives near the cordoned-off flat, said. "We were just eating our dinner and all these emergency vehicles turned up.

"They were putting on these green suits and we thought it was the gas as our electricity was turned off as well."

Miss Edwards said the vehicles arrived at about 7pm and she and her family were told to stay inside their home until about 10pm.

"We wanted to know what happened and with the Russian attack happening not long ago, and we just assumed the worst," she said. "I am not sure how long they were in there but we couldn't get out of the house for two-and-a-half hours."

Local resident Jake Murphy spoke of his shock at the police presence.

"Round here we just don't want any unwanted attention," he said. "We just want a quiet life and keep ourselves to ourselves. It's a new estate, so we just don't know each other."

Mr Skripal, a former double agent, and his daughter, who had been visiting him from Moscow, spent two months in hospital. They were discharged in May and are at a secure location.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was one of the first officers on the scene in March, was also left seriously ill.