Salisbury police say they already have enough to deal with as officers have to chase naked couple through the streets

The Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police has said the force has enough to deal with after officers were forced to chase a naked couple through the streets of Salisbury.

A man in his 20s and a woman in her 40s were caught having sex in public on Friday night in the city where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a nerve agent.

Officers chased the pair through Salisbury, and the episode prompted Kier Pritchard, Wiltshire Police's top officer, to address the act of indecency on Twitter.

Sharing a link to a local paper's story about the incident, he said: "There’s something in the air in Salisbury... something that shouldn’t be seen in public.

"Behave this summer, we’ve already got enough to deal with."

The couple were spotted in a field across the river from Queen Elizabeth Gardens - a park which was closed off and combed for evidence by specialist officers during in the aftermath of the Skripals' attack.

Officers tracked them down to an address in Essex Square - more than a mile away from the location of their encounter.

A police spokesman told the Salisbury Journal they will be questioned on public indecency grounds and said: "We were called at approximately 5.45pm on 20 April to a report of two people have sex in a field across the river at Queen Elizabeth Gardens.

"When officers attended nearby, the pair made off.

"Two people, a man aged in his 20s and a woman aged in her 40s, were later located at an address in the city and have been invited in for interview for outraging public decency."

The Chief Constable was criticised by some online, with one Twitter user telling him to "get a life" and "concentrate on real crime".

Mr Pritchard replied: "Unfortunately not something we can turn a blind eye to.

"Believe me we’d rather focus on protecting vulnerable people, community presence and prevention, hence my point of keeping this stuff out of the public space."