Novichok: Dawn Sturgess Inquiry report due out today
Dawn Sturgess died of Novichok poisoning in July
Last updated 21 hours ago
The public inquiry into the death of a Durrington woman from Novichok poisoning in 2018 is expected to publish its final report today.
The Dawn Sturgess Inquiry was commissioned in 2022 to investigate the circumstances of Dawn's death.
The inquiry began in Salisbury in October 2024 and was chaired by The Rt Hon Lord Hughes of Ombersley.
The report is due to be published at 12pm.
What happened to Dawn Sturgess?
Dawn, a mother of three, died at Salisbury District Hospital on 8th July 2028, after mistakenly applying the military grade nerve agent Novichok to herself.
The chemical had been hidden in a perfume bottle that her boyfriend Charlie Rowley had found in a bin and given to her.
The 44-year-old sprayed the agent onto her skin and quickly became ill, collapsing at Mr Rowley's flat in Amesbury on 30th June.
Mr Rowley also became seriously ill but survived.
Her death came after the poisoning of former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia in March 2018.
They became ill after two men from Russia applied the nerve agent to the doorknob of Mr Skripal's home in Salisbury.
The men were later identified as Russian intelligence officers Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, who had been seen on CCTV in Salisbury the day before the Skripal's poisoning.
What was said during the inquiry?
During the inquiry, it was revealed that the perfume bottle contained enough poison to "kill thousands".
While Dawn was treated in hospital, the inquiry heard that drugs that could have been used were unlikely to have had much effect, with her chances of survival described as "vanishingly small".
She was wrongly labelled as a "known-drug user", but it later came to light that there was no evidence that Dawn was a drug user.
The Wiltshire Police was forced to apologise during the inquiry for the mistake.
Chief Constable Catherine Roper has vowed to take all the learnings from the inquiry.