Novichok survivor Charlie Rowley reveals the moment he fell ill

Novichok victim Charlie Rowley tonight revealed how he blames himself over girlfriend Dawn Sturgess’ death – after giving her the Novichok nerve agent that killed her as a gift.

In his first interview since he left hospital, the 45-year-old told how he gave Ms Sturgess what he believed to be a bottle of perfume but then watched in horror as she was taken ill just 15 minutes after spraying it on her wrists.

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.

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.’

Mr Rowley, 45, the only British man to survive an attack since the Second World War told ITV News he was so ill he didn’t know who his partner was when he woke up

Novichok victim Charlie Rowley has revealed his guilt after giving a perfume bottle of the deadly nerve agent to his girlfriend ‘as a present’

In the interview he tells for the first time:

He was so ill when informed of Dawn’s death that he didn’t know who she was
Fifteen minutes after spraying on the Novichok disguised as perfume, Dawn fell violently ill
He got some on his hands, but washed it off immediately, which is why he believes he survived
He still collapsed foaming at the mouth within hours of being exposed
He blames himself for his partner’s death
He can’t go back home due to too many bad memories

Novichok victim Charlie Rowley has given his first on camera interview since he almost died from being exposed to the deadly nerve agent

In the candid interview he described Ms Sturgess spaying the contaminated liquid on her wrists and rubbing them together.

‘That’s how she applied it and became ill. I guess how I got in contact with it is when I put the spray part to the bottle and I ended tipping some on my hands, but I washed it off under the tap.

‘It had an oily substance and it smelled it and it didn’t smell of perfume. It felt oily. I washed it off and I didn’t think anything of it. It all happened so quick.’

He added he found the perfume bottle in ‘Salisbury or Amesbury’ and his memory surrounding the event was vague.

In the candid interview he described Ms Sturgess spaying the contaminated liquid on her wrists and rubbing them together

Speaking for the first time since the loss of his girlfriend, he says he survived because he washed his hands after coming into contact with the nerve agent.

‘The time I touched the bottle was the same time Dawn had touched the bottle. I had it on my hands and was fortunate enough to wash my hands.

‘Unfortunately Dawn didn’t. I spilled it. My hands were covered in the stuff. It was an oily substance with very little odour. It made me think…I didn’t think at the time.

I just washed it off very quickly. I didn’t put two and two together at all’.

After Ms Sturgess fell ill, he dialled 999 in ‘complete shock’.

‘I didn’t know what to do. My first reaction was maybe she’s just overreacting or something. But I could tell it was more than that. Within a minute I could tell she wasn’t faking anything. She was having a proper attack of some sort.

‘I was talking to her the whole time. I couldn’t get any response. She was fading so quickly.

‘It seemed like forever I was waiting for the ambulance to turn up. I felt helpless. I don’t have great medical knowledge. I was talking to the person on the phone trying to do the best I could. It was all I could do.’

The shocking interview comes after MailOnline revealed the first images of Mr Rowley since the attack.

Grinning and looking healthy despite a slight limp he was captured on CCTV at a shop in central Salisbury buying lager yesterday afternoon.

Mr Rowley, 45 and his partner Dawn Sturgess collapsed within hours of each other last month after being exposed to the same Novichok which left former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia fighting for life back in March.

They had picked up a perfume bottle containing the deadly substance that had been discarded in Salisbury.

Dawn died after rubbing the perfume on both her wrists and Charlie was in a coma but managed to pull through and is now in sheltered accommodation.

The shopkeeper, who served him, who asked not to be named, said: ‘I was surprised to see him come in but physically he looked as well as can be expected.

‘I asked him how he was and he said ‘bad’ and the said ‘I just wished Dawn hadn’t picked up that bottle.’

These are the first images of Novichok victim Charlie Rowley since he almost died from being exposed to the deadly nerve agent

Grinning and looking healthy despite a slight limp Rowley, 45, was captured on CCTV at a shop in central Salisbury buying lager yesterday afternoon

‘He then said ‘so, can you serve me alcohol now that I’m a famous person?’

‘I asked him what his doctors had said and he replied that they said he could still drink.

‘He said that he’d been drinking whiskey for the last couple of days and wanted something different so bought four cans of Polish lager.

‘He pulled out a bundle of notes, paid for the drinks and left.

‘Other than a limp, he didn’t seem to be in such bad health.’

The nerve agent victim told of his guilt after giving a perfume bottle of the deadly nerve agent to his girlfriend ‘as a present’.

He found a discarded cosmetic bottle and, believing it was perfume, picked it up and brought it home to give as a gift to Ms Sturgess.

But the bottle contained Novichok and within hours the couple was admitted to hospital in serious condition. Ms Sturgess died on July 8, while Mr Rowley was just released on Friday.

‘In a way, I feel lucky I survived but I’ve lost so much,’ he said.

The shopkeeper, who served him, who asked not to be named, said: ‘I was surprised to see him come in but physically he looked as well as can be expected

Charlies Rowley seen in public for the first time since coming out of a coma after being poisoned by nerve agent

‘I feel very sad about what happened to her, it’s awful and shocking. I was still on medication when they told me she passed away. I don’t think I will ever be able to get over it.’

The bottle was dumped by Russian assassins after they attempted to kill Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March.

It is believed found the bottle in Salisbury’s Queen Elizabeth Gardens, where detectives have been sifting through.

The park is nearby to where the Skripals were found after being poisoned.

Mr Rowley had brought the poisonous bottle back to his home in Amesbury, where Ms Sturgess is thought to have sprayed the nerve agent on her wrists.

Police in Hazmat suits are pictured scouring sites in Salisbury where Charlie Rowley and his late partner Dawn Sturgess were before they were poisoned with the deadly nerve agent

His brother Matthew Rowley, 47 (pictured) told the Daily Mail: ‘He rang me and said he’s being driven stir-crazy’

He vented his fury at the Russian agents who carelessly left the bottle of Novichok on the ground, saying it could have come into the hands of children.

Mr Rowley was released from hospital but has been taken to a police safehouse.

Officers have given him a special mobile phone number and banned him from watching television and from reading newspapers, his brother Matthew revealed.

Speaking to The Sun through his brother, Matthew, 47, who he called through a special phone number, Charlie said: ‘I’d really like to go out for a bottle of wine.

‘I’m very glad to be out of hospital but I’m trapped in a room and on a lot of medication. I’ve been let out for a cigarette but I’m very bored.’

Matthew Rowley said that Charlie’s girlfriend, Dawn , who died from the poisoning, rubbed the substance on her wrists, apparently thinking it was perfume, before the bottle ‘splintered in [Charlie’s] hands’, The Times reported.

Nurses are said to be fearful over Mr Rowley’s wavering mental health and have been shielding him from media reports referring to the death of his girlfriend.

Matthew told the Daily Mail: ‘He rang me and said he’s being driven stir-crazy. He’s being kept in a plain room without TV or newspapers because they don’t want to upset him.

‘Police have said he mustn’t say anything about where he is – all he told me was that he was safe.

‘It was a short conversation because nurses said I shouldn’t wear him out. He sounded really weak, almost as if he’d been drinking too much. He sounded pretty fed up.

‘He’s been given a strange new number which doesn’t always connect. I’ve only been able to speak to him once. I’m hoping I’ll be able to find out where he is and visit him soon.’

Charlie Rowley’s full interview with ITV News

Wind the clock back to the day that Dawn fell ill and you subsequently fell ill. What happened that day?

I remember waking up that morning. Seeing Dawn…

You’d been out the night before…and been in the park all day.

We’d been out the night before. It was a very nice day. We came back that evening. Had a few drinks. I say woke up the next morning. Everything was fine, normal. Dawn was talking about finishing dying her hair, because she’d been dying her hair down by the river the day before. At some stage, I remember finding a box with a perfume product in.

Tell me about the box…what was in it?

It was a cardboard box which contained a glass bottle, which was a perfume type thing, with a plastic dispenser lid that you had to assemble.

So it was a bottle of perfume…had it been open?

It wasn’t no. It was all sealed. It was all new. I believe I might have had it for a couple of days. It wasn’t until that morning I showed it to her and gave it to Dawn and showed it to her and she recognised the bottle and product as a known brand and I thought I was doing nothing more of it than giving her a gift.

So that’s what you were doing, you were giving her a gift. You think you had it for a couple of days but you’re not sure?

I believe so. We were in Salisbury the night before. Everything is a little bit vague. Where I found it. I believe it may have been in the Salisbury area or possibly Amesbury. I’m not sure. It was a cosmetic bottle.

I imagine the police have asked you quite a lot about where you found it. Have they tracked your steps those few days?

They’ve not said any more than what I’ve been able to tell them really.

Some people have said you have a habit of getting stuff out of skips?

I have had a tendency for picking things up, yeh. You find things of value, yes, some treasures here or there.

Do you think this perfume bottle may have been part of it?

It may have been. It may have been on the side of a path. It would be wrong of me to say I found it in a place and not be sure.

You lived in Amesbury and you hung out in Salisbury quite a lot so it could have been anywhere?

Yes, exactly.

So you give Dawn the gift…she’s getting ready. What happened?

We sat down. Letting the day begin. We hadn’t been up long. I had showed Dawn what I’d found. It might’ve been hanging around the flat for a couple of days. I realised…I still have it and I approached Dawn with it and show her and she recognised the brand.

What was her reaction? Was she pleased? Inquisitive?

[Takes a sharp breath]. Yeah..at the time it was…I find things and it looked expensive. It looked expensive. Unfortunately it turned out to be…to be a bad find.

You weren’t to know that… How long after you gave it to he did she use it?

Within 15 mins 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 a bad way?

Very bad. Yes.

Did you see her spray it?

I do have a memory of her spraying it on her wrists and rubbing them together. I guess that’s how she applied it and become ill. I guess how I got in contact with it is when I put the spray part to the bottle and I ended tipping some on my hands, but I washed it off under the tap. It had an oily substance and it smelled it and it didn’t smell of perfume. It felt oily. I washed it off and I didn’t think anything of it. It all happened so quick.

You came into contact with what many believe is one of the most dangerous substances on the planet… A chemical weapon. You had it in your flat. When I say that, what goes through your head?

It’s hard for me to comprehend. It’s hard for me to say more.

Does it seem unreal?

Very surreal.

You called for an ambulance for Dawn?

Yeah, I was in complete shock. I didn’t know what to do. My first reaction was maybe she’s just overreacting or something. But I could tell it was more than that. Within a minute I could tell she wasn’t faking anything. She was having a proper attack of some sort.

Did she respond to you at all?

No, I was talking to her the whole time. I couldn’t get any response. She was fading so quickly.

You called for help?

Of course. I phoned 999. It was horrible waiting for the ambulance because it was a brand new build. It seemed like forever I was waiting for the ambulance to turn up. I felt helpless. I don’t have great medical knowledge. I was talking to the person on the phone trying to do the best I could. It was all I could do.

When the Paramedics arrived, did they have any idea of what they were treating?

I thought it might have been something to do with…she had complained of a headache and she asked for paracetamol and I thought maybe she had taken her own medication that she had at the time. I thought at the time maybe it was a reaction to the medication she had taken.

She was taken to hospital…you planned to visit in a few hours…talk me through what happened in terms of what happened in terms of…you didn’t touch the perfume bottle…you didn’t think that was the source of the problem?

In my mind, no. No.

You went off and picked up your stuff. Came back to the flat. What point did you pick up the bottle?

I hadn’t. The time I touched the bottle was the same time Dawn had touched the bottle. I had it on my hands and was fortunate enough to wash my hands.

Unfortunately Dawn didn’t. I spilled it. My hands were covered in the stuff. It was an oily substance with very little odour. It made me think…I didn’t think at the time.

I just washed it off very quickly. I didn’t put two and two together at all. When the police came round…when I came round weeks after, and the police mentioned a bottle they’d found in the flat, they run tests on it and I can pretty much guarantee that the contents in the bottle was perfume and it was nothing to worry about and they run tests on it and I was in complete shock when they told me it was Novichok.

You’re in hospital…they tell you it was Novichok…what did you think?

It was all too much to take on board. Too much. I was told too much all at once. It was too much to take on board.

There aren’t many people in the world who have been in your position..? What does it make you think?

Very little. My heart goes out to the family and loved ones on Dawn’s side. It’s very hard to process…the whole lot.

Do you remember falling ill? Do doctors think because you washed your hands, you saved yourself?

I don’t know. I don’t know. I must’ve slowed down the process considerably by hours. It still got into my blood system. It affected me in quite a way.

I don’t remember much to be honest. All I know is what my friend told me who I was with. Apparently I was stumbling and foaming at the mouth and acting very peculiar and he called the ambulance and before I knew it…I have no recollection.

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