Dawn Sturgess Inquiry: Nerve agent 'could have killed thousands'
The 44 year old died in 2018 after being exposed to novichok
Last updated 14th Oct 2024
The family of a 44-year-old woman from Amesbury after being poisoned with Novichok in 2018 has asked a public inquiry to decide whether her death was preventable.
A public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess, who died after exposing herself to the chemical weapon which was hidden in a perfume bottle, started today (Monday 14th October) at Salisbury Guildhall.
The hearing aims to cover the sequence of events leading to the mum-of-three's death from the nerve-agent in July 2018 - which came four months after the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March that year.
Andrew O'Connor KC, counsel for the inquiry, said several questions need to be answered during it's process, including who was responsible, how the bottle ended up with Dawn and whether her death could have been prevented.
During his opening statement, Mr O'Connor provided background to the attack on the Skripal's in March, with CCTV images of their movements on the day of their poisoning.
The inquiry will look at whether an "innocent" British woman died after she was caught in the "crossfire of an illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt".
Andrew O'Connor KC, counsel to the Dawn Sturgess inquiry, said: "It's no exaggeration to say the circumstances of Dawn Sturgess's death were extraordinary, they were indeed unique."
Ms Sturgess "lived a life that was wholly removed from the worlds of politics and international relations", he added.
"When Ms Sturgess was poisoned by Novichok four months after the Skripal poisoning, the real possibility emerged that she had been caught - an innocent victim - in the crossfire of an illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt.
"Whether or not that is in fact what happened will, of course, be for you to determine."
The pair were exposed when touching the outside door handle of Mr Skripal's home in Salisbury in March 2018.
Questions over whether the former spy was adequately protected by the Government will be asked. It will also be asked if more could have been done to keep the wider public safe in the case of such an attack.
Dawn Sturgess's family want to understand why doctors initially theorised that her symptoms may have been caused by a drug overdose when she was taken to hospital, Andrew O'Connor KC, counsel to the Dawn Sturgess inquiry, said.
Mr O'Connor added the family wish to know "whether any of the things that may have gone wrong in Dawn's treatment could have made a difference to her chances of survival", adding: "To use a legal term - if there were failings, were they causative?"
The circumstances of the days before Dawn's death were also shown, with the 44-year-old's struggles with alcohol noted as 'improving' ahead a move into her own flat in Amesbury.
Her movements on June 29th 2018 were documented, showing her shopping in Salisbury.
The hearing was told that the exact circumstances of what happened on the morning of 30th June were unclear, but Ms Sturgess' partner Charlie Rowley handed her a bottle of perfume to use.
He spilt some of the liquid - laced with toxic novichok - on his hands, while she applied it directly to her wrists.
The perfume bottle that fatally poisoned Dawn Sturgess contained "enough poison to kill thousands of people", the inquiry into her death was told.
Andrew O'Connor KC, counsel to the Dawn Sturgess inquiry, said: "A particularly shocking feature of Dawn's death is that she unwittingly applied the poison to her own skin.
"She was entirely unaware of the mortal danger she faced, because the highly toxic liquid had been concealed - carefully and deliberately concealed - inside a perfume bottle.
"Moreover, the evidence will suggest that this bottle - which we shall hear contained enough poison to kill thousands of people - must earlier have been left somewhere in public place creating the obvious risk that someone would find it and take it home.
"You may conclude, sir, that those who discarded the bottle in this way acted with a grotesque disregard for human life."
Medical professionals who helped Dawn and Charlie will be giving evidence later this week.
Former Russian spy believes Putin responsible
Novichok poisoning victim Sergei Skripal believes Russian President Vladimir Putin was responsible for poisoning him with Novichok, the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry has heard.
In an interview in May 2018, two months after he, his daughter Yulia and then-police officer Nick Bailey, were poisoned in Salisbury in March that year, a police officer put it to him that he believed President Putin was responsible, to which he replied "It's my private opinion", said Andrew O'Connor KC, counsel to the inquiry.
They were poisoned when members of a Russian military intelligence squad are believed to have smeared the nerve agent on Mr Skripal's door handle.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after being exposed to the Russian nerve agent which was left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018.
In the last week, Mr Skripal provided a further witness statement to the inquiry, in which he said "it is not honourable to kill people who have been exchanged and the attack on Yulia and me was an absolute shock", the inquiry was told.
He added in the statement read by Mr O'Connor: "I had received a presidential pardon and was a free man with no convictions under Russian law.
"I never thought the Russian regime would try to murder me in Great Britain.
"They could have killed me easily if they wanted to when I was in prison."
Mr Skripal also said that, after leaving Russia, he lived "quite a normal life", but he thought returning to Russia would be "dangerous".
He said President Putin "must have at least given permission for the attack".
Mr Skripal said: "I believe Putin makes all important decisions himself. I therefore think he must have at least given permission for the attack on Yulia and me. Any GRU (Russian Federation) commander taking a decision like this without Putin's permission would have been severely punished."
Mr O'Connor also said that Jonathan Allen, a senior FCDO official, provided the inquiry with a statement in which he said it is the Government's view that Putin "authorised the operation".
The inquiry will look into whether the UK authorities took appropriate precautions in early 2018 to protect Mr Skripal from being attacked.
Mr O'Connor said the fact that Mr Skripal was a former senior GRU officer living in the UK "arguably placed him at some risk".
He added that Mr Skripal recognised this himself in a police interview in 2018, in which he said: "I am a very important man of special services. Still now I know a lot of Russian secrets, top secrets, they are really dangerous for Russian special services."
The hearings are being held in Salisbury this week, before moving to London's Royal Court's of Justice later this month.
Evidence is expected to be heard until December.