Novichok inquiry: Paramedics concerned Skripals had taken fentanyl overdose
Ambulance crews had been warned a toxic batch 'was doing the rounds'
A paramedic has said he thought Yulia and Sergei Skripal were suffering from a fentanyl overdose when he arrived at the scene of the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury.
The former spy and his daughter are believed to have been poisoned after members of Russian military intelligence smeared the nerve agent on Mr Skripal's door handle in Christie Miller Road.
Ian Parsons, a lead paramedic at the South Western Ambulance Service, gave evidence to the Sturgess Inquiry in central London on Wednesday (30th October).
He said he heard over an open broadcast that a female was "having a seizure" near the Superdrug store in the Maltings area of Salisbury on March 4th 2018.
He arrived at the scene a few minutes later and was given a brief handover by an officer, who thought it was potentially a drug overdose.
"The area of the Maltings underneath Sainsbury's is well-known in the local community as where homeless people reside and potentially some illicit drugs take place there," he said.
He said when he checked Ms Skripal she had a "slow heart rate" and was "foaming at the mouth".
Mr Parsons said he then noticed Mr Skripal sitting to the side.
He told the inquiry his initial thought was that he was dealing with a fentanyl overdose.
"Previously to the incident in Salisbury we had communication sent through to us that there was a highly toxic batch of fentanyl doing the rounds throughout the UK," he said.
He said that, in addition, he was conscious that fentanyl, when sold in its street form, can be absorbed through skin and can also contaminate clothing.
He said he told fellow paramedic Louise Woods to administer Naloxone, a medicine that reverses an opioid overdose, to Mr Skripal.
If it worked on Mr Skripal he would then try it on Ms Skripal, he said, because she seemed more ill to him at the time.
However, he said the medicine "did nothing".
He then moved Ms Skripal into an ambulance because he had removed her clothes and "there's only so much a blanket can do".
Just before the ambulance left the scene, a police officer knocked on the door and told him he believed his patient's name was Yulia Skripal.
Ms Woods also gave evidence to the inquiry.
She said Mr Skripal was "upright and conscious" when she first approached him.
"I vividly remember him being sat very still, bolt upright, on a bench," she said. "He did not recognise my presence at all."
She said he had been sick, and she checked the area around him for drug paraphernalia.
She did not consider that he might have been poisoned.
"Not in a million years would I have thought about chemical (poisoning) in Salisbury," she said.
She moved Mr Skripal into an ambulance with the help of colleagues.
"I remember his jaw suddenly started to clench down, and he started to make groaning sounds. It was like he was in pain but he could not tell us he was in pain," she said.
She said his presentation was "very odd" although he "remained effectively inwardly very stable".
Dr James Haslam, a consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, cared for the Skripals from March 5th onwards.
He said both Mr and Ms Skripal presented with an overall clinical picture of "profound compromise of the central and peripheral nervous systems".
However, Dr Haslam said Ms Skripal's condition was "worse than her father".
Upon arrival she was unable to breathe on her own, and was subsequently intubated and given mechanical ventilation.
When Mr Skripal arrived he was breathing for himself, but as time passed he too was unable to breathe on his own.
"We couldn't record their temperature because it was that low and that's despite active warming," he said.
The inquiry continues.