Revealed: Girl, 16, who was the first person to rush to help Sergei and Yulia Skripal after nerve agent poisoning
- Abigail McCourt, 16, thought spy was having heart attack on bench in Salisbury
- She dashed over and used the first aid skills she had learned at school to help
- Key role has only come to light because her mother nominated her for an award
A teenage girl was the first person to go to the aid of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter after they were poisoned by a nerve agent, it has emerged.
Abigail McCourt, 16, thought the stricken spy was suffering a heart attack on a bench in Salisbury city centre, as other shoppers walked past oblivious.
She dashed over and used the first aid skills she had learned at school to help 66-year-old Sergei and put his daughter, Yulia, 33, in the recovery position as the deadly novichok took hold.
Abigail’s key role has only now come to light because her mother, Lieutenant Colonel Alison McCourt – the Army’s most senior nurse – nominated her for a ‘local hero’ award.
Speaking after she won the Lifesaver Award on Friday night, Abigail, from Larkhill, Wiltshire, told how she intervened after she and her family had been celebrating her brother’s birthday in March last year.
She said: ‘We were coming home and I saw them on the bench. People were walking past and I don’t think anyone had really noticed them. I was telling my mum because I thought he was having a heart attack, and so we went over and it developed from there.’
Novichok victims Sergei and Yulia Skripal (right and left) both hospitalised after being exposed to the deadly novichok nerve agent
Abigail thought the stricken spy was suffering a heart attack on a bench (pictured) in Salisbury city centre, as other shoppers walked past oblivious
Abigail, who later had to undergo hospital tests for the nerve agent, added: ‘I did make a massive difference I think because the woman [Yulia] wasn’t breathing at the time when we found her.’
She did not know the Skripals were victims of a Kremlin hit squad until the next day. She explained: ‘At break someone said to me on Snapchat, “Is this the thing you were talking about?” and I was like, “OK, wow!” ’
The Skripals survived but mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess died after handling a discarded bottle in which the poison had been hidden.
Abigail’s key role has only now come to light because her mother, Lieutenant Colonel Alison McCourt (pictured) – the Army’s most senior nurse – nominated her for a ‘local hero’ award
Abigail’s mother, who won a medal for her role in tackling the ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, said: ‘As a qualified nurse, it was a fairly routine situation for me but my daughter was amazing.
‘Her prompt actions, spotting them in difficulty, and the way she assisted me to put Yulia Skripal in the recovery position had a significant impact on the outcome of the two victims.’