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Skripal detectives set to examine 'suicide' of tycoon Scot Young

Scot Young's family have always insisted that he was murdered  - Eddie Mulholland
Scot Young's family have always insisted that he was murdered - Eddie Mulholland

The death of tycoon Scot Young could be re-examined by detectives investigating the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, it has been claimed amid calls to probe a string of suspicious deaths linked to Russia.

Police investigating the novichok attack are said to have uncovered information which shows when Russian military intelligence officers travelled to the UK and linked it to the death of Mr Young and that of whilstleblower Alexander Perepilichnyy.

Officers have previously said that there is no evidence that the deaths were suspicious, despite insistences from family and friends that they were murdered.

They are among a group of at least 14 men who deaths have been publicly linked to the Russian state, though investigations have concluding that they all died either from suicide or natural causes.

There are now calls for officers to look again at all 14 cases in light of the new information regarding the movements of GRU officers on British soil.

A number of agents are understood to have been identified after leaked passport data and other personal information emerged in the wake of the poisoning of Mr Skripal, a former Russian spy, and his daughter Yulia.

Alexander Perepilichnyy was helping uncover fraud in Russia when he collapsed and died - Credit: PA
Alexander Perepilichnyy was helping uncover fraud in Russia when he collapsed and died Credit: PA

According to the Sunday Times this information has been used to establish that they GRU agents were in Britain at the time of the suspicious deaths and in an embarrassing u-turn the Metropolitan Police may re-examine as suspicious some of the deaths they have previously dismissed.

"One of their lines of inquiry relates to Russian intelligence officers travelling in and out of the country around the time of the deaths," a source told the newspaper.

Scotland Yard refused to comment on the claims.

After Colonel Anatoly Chepiga was accused of poisoning Mr Skripal a further 40 suspected agents were identified by their passport data, which listed their addresses as Khoroshevskoye Shosse 76 B, the Moscow headquarters of the GRU.  

A further 300 suspected agents were identified following the plot to hack into the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague as officials were trying to confirm the origin of the novichok used in Salisbury in March.

One of the agents, Alexei Morenets, 41, has his Lada car registered to a GRU base in Moscow, allowing other cars registered there to be traced. It is now understood some of these agents have been traced to Britain in 2014 when

Mr Young, who had business dealings in Moscow was found impaled on railings outside his central London home. 

 His family have always insisted that he was murdered.

Michelle Young has always insisted her husband was murdered - Credit: Andrew Crowley
Michelle Young has always insisted her husband was murdered Credit: Andrew Crowley

Ms Young said. "I just want the truth to come out now. They say that there is no hard evidence, but the only way to get to the truth is to investigate it.

"Why are the police not investigating 14 murders on British soil? If they re-open the investigation into Scot’s death then it might lead them to investigations on the other deaths.”

It is also understood that further links between the Kremlin and Mr Perepilichnyy’s death in 2012 have been uncovered. The 44-year-old has been helping prominent Vladimir Putin critic Bill Browder uncover fraud at his firm Hermitage Capital.

Mr Browder said: “I have been shocked since 2012 that the police have labelled this as not suspicious when it was clearly suspicious. The fact that there hasn’t been a proper investigation is a green light to the Russian killers that they can kill in this country with impunity.

“We warned police within days of his death that he was murdered, and probably poisoned. “But they discarded stomach samples and they failed to create a cordon around the scene and as a result of their failings almost every investigative option was compromised. Since then the police have insisted that it is not suspicious, which is absurd.

He said that the police should look again at all the suspicious deaths linked to Russia, adding: “The police need to sharpen their game and probably bring in specialise outside forces from other countries who know how to do this sort of work if they are unable to do it here.”

His calls were echoed by Marina Litvinenko, who husband Alexander was killed in London in 2006 with  polonium-210 on the orders of the Russian state.

“It's very important that Scotland Yard looks into these mysterious deaths, because it seems that they're all linked somehow," she said.

Mr Browder said that the fact that they had been identified through the blunders of agents abroad would have left Mr Putin “seething”.

“Putin will be absolutely humiliated that his entire foreign assassin operation has been compromised by its own stupidity,” he said.

The 14 deaths linked to Russia were initially re-examined in the wake of the Skripals poisoning.

Scotland Yard said in a statement: “Following a request in March from the then-Home Secretary Amber Rudd, reviews into 14 deaths of Russian nationals in the UK were carried out by the relevant local police forces, which were coordinated by Counter Terrorism Policing. 

“Following the reviews a response was sent back to the Home Secretary that there was no basis on which to re-open any of the investigations. Should any new information or evidence become available, then it will be assessed by the relevant police force as appropriate.”