The hero police officer who was left seriously ill after assisting a poisoned Russian spy has been named as Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, as officers seal off the double agent’s home, surrounding street and graves of his wife and son.
Today the investigation into the poisoning of Sergei Skirpal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, continued with police extending the cordon around his Salisbury home and the surrounding street, as well as his family’s graves nearby.
Officers have now confirmed 21 people, including Mr Skirpal, his daughter, and Sgt Bailey, were treated in hospital in relation to the attack, after previously claiming the number was ‘fewer than 10’.
Forensic experts also returned to the scene in Salisbury city centre, Wiltshire where the pair were found slumped unconscious on a bench on Sunday afternoon after being poisoned with a deadly nerve agent.
Sgt Bailey was rushed to hospital shortly afterwards, along with two others from the emergency services, and up to seven members of the public, and was today said to be talking to his family from his hospital bed.
It was initially reported Sgt Bailey was one of the first on the scene and could have come into contact with the nerve agent after giving the pair first aid following the suspected assassination attempt.
But with officers sealing off various locations around the city, it is unclear where the detective sergeant and other victims were poisoned.
Nick Bailey has been named as the hero policeman hospitalised following a nerve agent attack on Russian spy Sergei Skripal
Pictures emerged today of Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia during a previous visit she made to Salisbury to see him
The investigation into the double agent’s suspected assassination has continued today with the sealing off of his Salisbury home. A tent is pictured in his back garden
Crime scene: Officers took the decision to extend the cordon around Mr Skirpal’s Salisbury home today where forensic experts are scouring the property for clues. It now extends for 150 yards around the cul-de-sac where he lives
Police have put also sealed off the area around the graves of Mr Skripal’s wife Liudmila and son Alexander. It is thought Mr Skripal and his daughter visited the graves after she arrived from Russia
Elsewhere today police in Hazmat suits returned to the scene where Mr Skirpal and his daughter were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury city centre, Wiltshire on Sunday afternoon
Well-respected Wiltshire Police officer Sgt Bailey, who is said to be talking to family from his hospital bed, was visited by the force’s temporary Chief Constable Kier Pritchard earlier this afternoon.
A source told MailOnline: ‘Sgt Bailey is an experienced officer with years of service under his belt.’
Home Secretary Amber Rudd revealed this morning that she had been informed Sgt Bailey was ‘talking and engaging’.
When Wiltshire Police’s Chief Constable Kier Pritchard emerged from Salisbury District Hospital today, he said: ‘I have just left the bedside of our officer and family in hospital.’
He described him as an ‘amazingly courageous officer’.
Further details have since emerged about Sgt Bailey. In 2016 he got a certificate of excellence for single-handedly putting a serial rapist behind bars.
The police officer trawled through and reopened a number of old cases, as well as investigating a series of fresh allegations against Arthur Bonner in what was described as a ‘complex and serious case’.
After Bonner was jailed for 14 years, Wiltshire Police’s then Chief Constable Mike Veale praised his dedication, hard work and outstanding professionalism.
A police officer bends down near a bench where Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia were found collapsed from a nerve agent attack. This photo was taken just minutes after the incident, when police were still unaware of what they were dealing with
A photo from the same angle this morning shows the bench where the pair were found hidden by a police forensic evidence tent as officers continue their investigation
His investigations into Bonner spanned two years. He said afterwards: ‘It’s a really nice feeling. It was a very long, emotionally draining investigation, for the families as well.
‘It was very difficult not to get their hopes up, but we got justice in the end.
‘You live and breathe that type of investigation for a long time.
‘It’s on your mind constantly, and it’s very difficult to switch off, it’s such a big thing.
‘It affects so many people in such a significant way.
‘To see a full trial go through and to see those 12 members of the public as the jury listen to the evidence you have presented to the court and to see them say ‘we believe he is guilty’ is a really exhilarating feeling.’
Police in Hazmat suits have descended on various locations in the city since the incident on Sunday as they attempt to work out who poisoned the former double agent.
They are currently scouring Mr Skirpal’s home and today decided to extend the cordon around his Salisbury cul-de-sac from 50 to 150 yards.
A tent has been erected in his back garden while forensic officers investigate. Neighbouring residents are still allowed to access their homes.
Today, the graves of Mr Skripal’s son Alexander and his wife Liudmila were also taped off.
Mr Skripal’s 43-year-old son Alexander is reported to have died last year while on holiday in St Petersburg after being rushed to hospital with ‘liver failure’ – but Russian news agency in the city said it had not been able to find any record of his death.
Mr Skripal’s wife Liudmila died in October 2012 at the age of 59. Her death certificate said she died from disseminated endometrial carcinoma – womb cancer – which she was diagnosed with in Russia.
The pictures, taken by a nearby resident, show the immediate aftermath of the attack which has sparked a huge police investigation and seriously damaged British-Russian relations
A photo of the aftermath shows a red object on the floor (circled in top photo). A CCTV believed to show Mr Skripal and his daughter minutes before the attack includes a red bag
The new pictures of the aftermath of the attack were taken at the Maltings shopping precinct in Salisbury only two minutes after Yulia, 33, was airlifted to hospital.
The photos were taken just minutes after the air ambulance left, by writer Thom Belk, 30, who heard sirens and the air ambulance.
Mr Belk, of Salisbury, said: ‘I went to see what was going on just as the air ambulance was taking off and the land ambulance was leaving.
‘These pictures are the immediate aftermath of what had happened – I don’t think anyone there really had a clue what was going on. The police officer is very close to the area where they were taken ill.
‘The officers had actually lifted part of the cordon and at one point there were two members of the public walking very near to the bench and the bag as well.
‘They started off with quite a big cordon, but did begin to take some of it down.’
It is understood detectives will look into their deaths as part of the new investigation
The former Russia spy appears to have settled into life in Britain. He is pictured in a local pub
Police are said to be examining whether the nerve agent was be detected elsewhere in the city
Nerve gas ‘was fed to Russian spy and his daughter’: Investigators ‘rule out Sarin and VX’ as they turn focus to ‘very rare’ mystery chemical
Chemical weapons experts are today continuing the painstaking process of working out where the nerve agent used in the Russian spy attack came from.
Investigators have ruled out the two best known nerve agents, sarin and VX, sources have suggested. The Home Secretary has meanwhile described the chemical as ‘very rare’.
Detectives are understood to be moving away from the theory that the nerve agent was sprayed directly at Skripal, a source told MailOnline.
They are instead believed to be focusing more on the possibility that poison was added to his food or drink at some point before he collapsed.
It is hoped the composition of the substance will help investigators work out where the agent was manufactured.
Experts say the clear liquids can be made at only ‘a few laboratories in the world’, mostly government-controlled.
Police in protective suits and gas masks working near Salisbury earlier this week
The first modern nerve agents, including sarin, which was released by a Japanese doomsday cult onto the Tokyo subway in 1995, were first devised by the Germans during World War II.
A new generation of the chemical weapons, including VX, were later invented by the British during the Cold War. VX is up to 150 times more deadly than sarin.
The fact that investigators appear to have ruled out those two suggests the nerve agent used last weekend could be a so-called ‘fourth generation’ agent.
They were developed by the Soviet Union in the 1980s and 1990s and are said to be even more toxic than VX, which has been classed as a weapon of mass destruction by the UN.
These Novichoks, meaning ‘newcomer’ in Russian, are said to be binary weapons, which mean they contain two harmless chemicals which only become toxic when mixed together in an aerosol or missile. This makes them easier to make, store and transport safely, but may also render conventional anecdotes ineffective.
Professor Malcolm Sperrin, Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, said: ‘Symptoms of exposure to nerve agents may include respiratory arrest, heart failure, twitching or spasms – anything where the nerve control is degraded.’
Scientists do not want to say how nerve agents are created, for fear of copycat attacks, but the ingredients are cheap and easy to obtain, although it takes proper equipment to mix the substances safely.
The chemicals can kill within minutes, by disrupting electrical signals through the nervous system which makes it hard to breathe.
Photos emerged today of the immediate aftermath of the nerve agent attack in Salisbury
People cough and foam at the mouth as their lungs fill with mucus, they vomit, sweat, become incontinent and their eyes run. It is described by experts as ‘turning on all the taps’.
Dr Simon Cotton, from the University of Birmingham, said: ‘If you have ever seen a fly sprayed it drops on its back and lies with its legs in leg in the air, twitching, this is the result of nerve agents taking hold.’
The Korean leader’s half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, died within 20 minutes after his face was smeared with VX at an airport in Malaysia last February. The Ministry of Defence has since admitted carrying out animal experiments using the nerve agent, to try to develop an antidote.
VX is one of five main nerve agents and, with another called GF, is a ‘G-series’ agent usually inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Just a fraction of a drop, absorbed through the skin, can take effect within seconds and ‘fatally disrupt the nervous system’, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The other three ‘V-series’ agents are sarin, tabun and soman, which are primarily designed to kill their victims through inhalation and were devised by the Germans but never used during World War II.
All five colourless chemicals are sometimes called nerve gas, but this is incorrect, as they are liquid at room temperature.
Officers have since closed off the Zizzi restaurant and Mill pub where Mr Skripal and his daughter are thought to have visited.
Mr Skripal’s house, part of the local hospital, the ambulance station of the vehicle which took him to the hospital and an office block next to Zizzi’s have also been taken over as part of the investigation.
Amber Rudd told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were still in a ‘very serious condition’ following the plot on Sunday.
Ms Rudd said: ‘I’ve spoken to Mark Rowley (Scotland Yard’s head of counter-terrorism policing) this morning. The two targets are still in very serious condition.
‘The policeman is talking and is engaging, so I’m more optimistic for him, but it’s too early to say. This is a nerve agent. You know, we are still treating it as very serious.’
She added that she was ‘hopeful’ that the police officer would make a recovery.
Counter-terror police are working to unravel what is now feared to be a sophisticated chemical weapon plot targeting the Russian spy and his daughter.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd spoke to ITV’s Good Morning Britain today after it emerged one of the first police officers to arrive at the bench where the pair were slumped is seriously ill
The police man in hospital was visited by Wiltshire’s temporary Chief Constable Kier Pritchard today. Mr Pritchard as the man’s family were with him and praised his courage
Wiltshire Police today thanks the public for the many messages of support the office received
It remains unclear who is responsible for poisoning the pair, but the attack has stoked tensions between Britain and Russia amid suspicions of state responsibility.
Former British ambassador to Russia Sir Andrew Wood said that the ‘assassination attempt’ was more serious given a policeman was among the injured.
Defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, told GMB today: ‘Russia is becoming an ever-increasing threat.
‘Russia is changing the way they fight and raise the level of conflict. We have to change the way we deal with it.’
Ms Rudd is expected to make a statement to the House of Commons about the incident today.
Mr Rowley revealed yesterday that the incident was being treated as attempted murder and the pair had been ‘targeted specifically’.
Counter-terror police are working to unravel what is now feared to be a sophisticated chemical weapon plot targeting Sergei Skripal (left), 66, and his daughter Yulia (right), 33
A large tent has been put up in the park where Skripal and his daughter were found
A smaller tent has been put up over the bench where the father and daughter were found
Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the head of counter-terrorism policing, revealed on Wednesday that the incident was being treated as attempted murder and the pair had been ‘targeted specifically’.
He declined to specify the nerve agent or how it was administered.
He said: ‘Having established that a nerve agent was the cause of the symptoms, leading us to treat this as attempted murder, I can also confirm that we believe the two people who originally became unwell were targeted specifically.
‘Our role now of course is to establish who is behind this and why they carried out this act.’
Hundreds of detectives, forensic officers and analysts are working on the case, which has drawn comparisons to the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko on British soil in 2006.
Nerve agents, which are chemical weapons, have been used in assassinations and attacks in war zones in recent years.
Kim Jong Un’s half-brother Kim Jong Nam was killed at an international airport in Malaysia last year in an attack using a nerve agent known as VX.
Another well-known nerve agent, sarin gas, killed more than 90 people in a rebel-held area in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria, drawing international condemnation of the Bashar Assad regime.
Access to such toxins are tightly regulated, meaning the Salisbury plot would have taken considerable planning to execute.
It is thought investigators have identified the nerve agent used but have not announced it
Police remain at the restaurant and pub at the centre of the attempted murder probe
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commanding officer of Britain’s Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, told the Times: ‘This is not the stuff you can knock up in your back shed.
‘It is quite challenging to make. The inference is that this has probably come from a major laboratory, probably state-run.’
Mr Rowley reiterated his appeal for anyone who was in Salisbury city centre on Sunday to come forward to help with the ‘missing pieces’ in the case.
Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, said the incident posed a ‘low risk’ to the public and advised that all the sites the pair were known to have visited had been ‘secured’.
Public Health England later confirmed it had contacted all first responders who had attended the scene.
The Kremlin has not commented on the nerve gas development. Russia president Vladimir Putin appeared untroubled as he toured a cake factory in the Samara region yesterday
Russia have denied responsibility for the attack, which comes seven years after Mr Skripal was released from the country as part of a spy swap with the US.
He had been convicted in his home country in 2006 for passing state secrets to MI6.
The investigation has triggered a diplomatic row and prompted crisis talks in Whitehall but Home Secretary Amber Rudd said police must respond to ‘evidence, not to rumour’.
It comes as police extended the cordons in Salisbury city centre, and also sealed off part of a business park in nearby Amesbury.
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in nearby Porton Down, which has state-of-the-art equipment to look for trace amounts of substances, is believed to have been involved in examining the substance.
Was poisoning in retaliation to Trump ‘dirty dossier’? Kremlin double agent ‘was close to consultant employed by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele’
By Mark Duell and Richard Spillett for MailOnline
The Russian double agent attacked with a nerve agent in Salisbury was close to a consultant who worked with the firm of former British spy Christopher Steele, it was reported today.
Sergei Skripal, who is fighting for his life in hospital after the incident on Sunday, is said to have been close to an unnamed intelligence expert who carried out work for independent security firm Orbis Business Intelligence.
Orbis was founded by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who was behind a notorious and controversial dossier on Donald Trump , which claimed Moscow had compromising information on the US President.
Russian double agent Sergei Skripal (left) was close to a consultant who had worked for Orbis Business Intelligence, the firm of former British spy Christopher Steele (right), it was reported
Police remain in the park in Salisbury where Mr Skripal and has daughter were found after being attacked with a powerful nerve agent on Sunday
Mr Skripal and the Orbis consultant had become close and were both based in the south of England, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The paper suggested that Skripal’s association with Orbis and, indirectly, the Trump dossier could have been a motivation behind the attack on him.
There are conflicting reports about whether Skripal was retired from the world of espionage.
From his time in Russia’s military intelligence apparatus, he would have excellent knowledge of the country’s tactics and potential contacts.
The Times reported this week that he was still giving lectures on KGB tactics.
And another Russian exile, Valery Morozov, told Channel 4 News last night that Skripal remained in contact with military intelligence officers at the Russian Embassy.
A spokesman for the Russian Embassy said they are not aware of communication between Skripal and staff.
Skripal is a former colonel in Russian military intelligence and was responsible for unmasking dozens of Russian secret agents undercover in Europe.
Russian exile Valery Morozov told Channel 4 News he met Sergei Skripal several times and claims he was in regular contact with military intelligence officers at the Russian Embassy
Yulia Skripal is understood to be a businesswoman who has worked for Nike and Pepsico
In 2006, he was sentenced to 13 years in a Russian labour camp after being convicted of passing invaluable Russian secrets to the UK.
In July 2010, he was one of four spies exchanged for ten Russian agents deported from the US in an historic swap involving red-headed ‘femme fatale’ Anna Chapman.
Since then, he has moved to Salisbury and lived an apparently unremarkable life in Wiltshire cathedral city, joining a £10-a-year Railway Social Club, drinking in local pubs and spending a reported £40-a-week on lottery scratchcards.
Police yesterday revealed he and his daughter Yulia, who was visiting from Moscow, were attacked with a nerve agent on Sunday. Both remain in the critical condition.
Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the head of counter-terrorism policing, revealed on Wednesday that the incident was being treated as attempted murder and the pair had been ‘targeted specifically’.
He declined to specify the nerve agent or how it was administered.
He said: ‘Having established that a nerve agent was the cause of the symptoms, leading us to treat this as attempted murder, I can also confirm that we believe the two people who originally became unwell were targeted specifically.
‘Our role now of course is to establish who is behind this and why they carried out this act.’
Hundreds of detectives, forensic officers and analysts are working on the case, which has drawn comparisons to the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko on British soil in 2006.