Former Prime Minister Theresa May has said that ‘justice is unlikely’ for the victims of the Salisbury poisonings, which led to the death of mother Dawn Sturgess.
Sergei Skripal, 71, and his daughter Yulia, 39, narrowly survived an assassination attempt in March 2018, when Russian agents allegedly sprayed the military-grade nerve agent Novichok on the front door of their home in 2018.
Both were discovered unconscious on a bench in Salisbury city center after the attack. Police officer Nick Bailey also became critically ill after searching their house.
Four months later, 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess, a mother of three, tragically died after being given the discarded perfume bottle containing the nerve agent by her boyfriend, Charlie Rowley and unknowingly spraying it on her wrist.
The former prime minister told the BBC she hopes friends and family of Ms Sturgess ‘will take some comfort’ from the probe into her death, set to start on October 14.
Mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess (pictured) died after she found a perfume bottle containing military-grade nerve agent
Charlie Rowley (pictured), 49, lost his home after the attack because the property was severely contaminated
In an interview with the BBC’s Crime Next Door: Salisbury Poisonings podcast, Baroness May said of the inquiry: ‘I would hope by the end of it the family and friends of Dawn Sturgess feel it has got to the truth.’
However, the former British leader said that ‘closure to all the people affected would only finally come with justice, and that justice is highly unlikely to happen’.
In March 2018, Wiltshire was rocked when Kremlin spies allegedly attempted to murder former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, 68, in Salisbury.
Both he and his then 33-year-old daughter Yulia were rushed to hospital in critical condition after coming into contact with Novichok – a deadly nerve agent concocted by Soviet scientists during the Cold War.
They survived the suspected attempted murder, but four months later, in the same county, Ms Sturgess, 44, was killed.
She and Mr Rowley fell ill after handling the fake Nina Ricci perfume bottle used by the Moscow hitmen in their initial botched assassination of the Skripals.
Mr Rowley, who has battled psychological scars as well as fading eyesight, found the perfume bottle in a charity shop bin before giving it to his then girlfriend as a gift.
All three survived, as did Ms Sturgess’s boyfriend Charlie Rowley.
Theresa May has said ‘justice is unlikely’ for the victims of the Novichok nerve agent attacks
John Baker House where Dawn Sturgess lived. Dawn died after coming into contact with the nerve agent
Sergei and his daughter Yulia (pictured) nearly died after Russian agents are believed to have sprayed military-grade chemical Novichok on the front door of their house
It is believed the Russian state ordered the attack on Skripal – who was jailed in Russia for spying in MI6 – on March 4 2018.
The suspected assassins – Russian intelligence officers Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin – were caught on CCTV as they travelled from Moscow to the Wiltshire cathedral city.
A third suspect, senior Russian agent Denis Sergeev, was believed to be the on-the-ground commander. All three fled back to Russia after their failed murder attempt.
An international arrest warrant was issued for three Russian men thought to be involved in the attacks on British soil, but as the Russian constitution does not allow the extradition of its citizens it is unlikely they will ever stand trial.
Baroness May also said the Russians accused of executing the attack acted with ‘utter recklessness’.
She added: ‘You felt they just didn’t care about anything’.
It took almost exactly a year for Salisbury to finally be declared clear of all traces of the deadly nerve agent. Police say it could have killed thousands.
Mr Rowley told ITV News when he came round in hospital after being exposed to the deadly Russian nerve agent, he was so ill he didn’t know who Ms Sturgess was. He revealed how he found the ‘perfume’, which was in a sealed bottle, and gave it to Ms Sturgess on the morning that she collapsed.
A public inquiry hearing into the death of Ms Sturgess is due to start on October 14
Russian nationals Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov (pictured) are believed to have been involved in the attack. They were caught on CCTV walking down Fisherton Road, Salisbury, on March 4, 2018
He said: ‘I had showed Dawn what I’d found. It might’ve been hanging around the flat for a couple of days.
‘I find things and it looked expensive. It looked expensive. Unfortunately, it turned out to be… to be a bad find.
‘Within 15 minutes Dawn said she had a headache. She asked me if I had any headache tablets. I had a look around the flat. In that time she said she felt peculiar and needed to lie down in the bath.
‘At the time I thought it seemed a bit strange and I went into the bathroom and found her in the bath, fully clothed, in a very ill state.’
In June, a preliminary hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice heard that the Sturgess family wanted the Skripals to give oral evidence to address ‘unanswered questions’.
They were, however, excused from doing so in a subsequent ruling, with the relevant judgement citing an ‘overwhelming risk’ of another physical attack on their lives.
The public inquiry hearing is due to begin at The Guildhall in Salisbury on October 14.
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