Investigators believe at least two teams of Russian hitmen were behind the Novichok attack on the Skripals in Salisbury, it has been revealed.
Police are working on the theory that one team arrived in Britain to plant the nerve agent weeks before Sergei Skripal, 67, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were poisoned – and another arrived later to use it, The Mirror reports.
Authorities believe the nerve agent was disguised as perfume in order to get it through customs and into the country.
That led to the death of Dawn Sturgess, 44, who died after spraying a bottle of Novichok that was disguised as perfume.
Her boyfriend Charlie Rowley, 45, found the discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury in June and gave it to the mother-of-three as a present.
Investigators believe at least two teams of Russian hitmen were behind the Novichok attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal (pictured) in Salisbury, it has been revealed
Ms Sturgess died on July 8, but Mr Rowley was discharged from Salisbury District Hospital last week.
However, since that bottle was sealed, it raises the prospect that a different container was used to smear Novichok on the Skripals’ front door in March.
If so, the poison used in the attempted assassination of the former spy and his daughter may still be out there.
A Whitehall source told the Mirror that the assassins hid the Novichok inside a Russian product – and their carelessness in doing that suggests they may have left more of it lying around.
‘The net keeps widening – they almost can’t predict what’s going to turn up next,’ the source told the newspaper.
‘The bottle they put it in could only have been bought in Russia.’
Dawn Sturgess (pictured) died after spraying a bottle of Novichok that was disguised as perfume
Charlie Rowley (pictured after his release from hospital) said the nerve agent took just 15 minutes to poison Ms Sturgess after she sprayed the ‘oily’ substance on to her wrists
The source said any suggestion that the nerve agent didn’t originate in Russia is ‘laughable.’
Mr Rowley said the nerve agent took just 15 minutes to poison Ms Sturgess after she sprayed the ‘oily’ substance on to her wrists thinking it was perfume.
‘I do have a memory of her spraying it on her wrists and rubbing them together,’ he told ITV.
‘I guess 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… I ended tipping some on my hands, but I washed it off under the tap.’
Mr Rowley said he got some of the substance on his hands but washed it off fairly quickly.
He also fell ill and was hospitalised in critical condition, but has since recovered.
Police believe the Novichok was from the same batch used in the March attack on ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
They were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March.
A forensic tent covers the bench where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found in Salisbury in March
Emergency workers in protective suits search around John Baker House Sanctuary Supported Living earlier this month. A cordon around the house has now been lifted
Both were hospitalised for weeks, but eventually were released and are recovering in a secret location.
British officials blame the attack on the Russian government. The Kremlin has denied any involvement.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid accused the Russian state of using Britain as a ‘dumping ground for poison’, and demanded the Kremlin provide an explanation for the two episodes.
Police are still searching the area for clues and possible indications of more Novichok contamination.
A cordon that had been placed around the house where Ms Sturgess lived in Salisbury is being lifted after weeks of careful searches.
Investigators said no contamination risk had been identified at John Baker House, the supported-living accommodation in Salisbury.
Public Health England’s advice is that the wider risk to the public remains low.