Andrew O’Connor: Dawn Sturgess is an ‘innocent victim’
The vial opened by Dawn Sturges before her death contained “enough poison to kill thousands of people”, an inquest has heard.
Former spy Sergei Skripal also told the hearing that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind the poisoning plot with the nerve agent Novichok.
An investigation is underway into the death of Ms Sturgess, 44, who died in 2018 in Amesbury, Wiltshire, after being poisoned by a poison left in a discarded perfume bottle.
Skripal and his daughter Yulia were seriously injured after members of Russian military intelligence apparently smeared their doorknobs with a nerve agent.
“I never thought the Russian regime would try to kill me in Britain,” he told a written inquiry.
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Investigative adviser Andrew O’Connor KC said Sturges was an “innocent victim of a barrage of illegal and extrajudicial assassination plots” and said the nerve agent found in the perfume bottle used by Sturges was sufficient. It added that it contained a large amount of ingredients. Dawn Sturges’ family has called on President Putin to present evidence in the investigation and to look “through the eyes of the family.” Michael Mansfield KC spoke for the Sturgess family. He said Wiltshire Police had determined that Mr Sturgess and his partner Charlie Rowley had suffered drug overdoses which affected their treatment. Charlie Rowley continues to suffer from long-term injuries, including problems with his vision, balance and memory, police agent Adam Straw KC said. Sturges family
Russia has denied involvement in the deaths and called the investigation a “circus.”
The Skripals will not give evidence directly to the public inquiry due to safety concerns.
In an interview in May 2018, two months after he, his daughter Yulia and then-police officer Nick Bailey were poisoned in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in March 2018, the police officer said he believed Putin was responsible. He said he was there.
A police interrogation record states that Skripal said, “This is my personal opinion.”
Dawn Sturgess, 44, dies after coming into contact with the nerve agent Novichok
Last week, Skripal gave a further witness statement to the inquiry, in which he said: “It is not honorable to kill people who have been exchanged, and the attack on Yulia and me was an absolute shock.” conveyed.
In a statement read out by Mr O’Connor, he added: “I had received a presidential pardon and was a free man without any criminal convictions under Russian law.
“When I was in prison, they could have easily killed me if they wanted to.”
Skripal also said that he had lived a “completely normal life” after leaving Russia, but thought it would be “dangerous” to return to the country.
He said Putin “should have at least given permission for the attack.”
“Putin believes that he makes all important decisions himself, so I think he must have at least authorized the attack on Yulia and me,” Skripal said.
“GRU (Russian Federation) commanders who took such a decision without President Putin’s permission would have been severely punished.”
Mr O’Connor also said Jonathan Allen, a senior official at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development, had provided a statement to the inquiry saying it was the government’s view that Putin had “authorized the operation”.
The Salisbury poisoning scandal resulted in the British government expelling 23 people as “spies posing as diplomats.”
At the time, this effectively dismantled the Russian spy network in Britain, and officials said they had since worked to rebuild Britain’s spy network.
Other Western countries followed suit, with a total of more than 100 spies sent back to Russia, the report said.
The investigation will look into whether British authorities took appropriate precautions to protect Mr Skripal from attack in early 2018.
Mr O’Connor said the fact that Mr Skripal was a former senior GRU official living in the UK “probably put him at some risk”.
He added that Skripal himself was aware of this during a 2018 police interrogation, in which he said:
“Even now I know many Russian secrets, top secrets, which are really dangerous for Russian special forces.”
The inquiry will also look into whether Mr Sturges’ poisoning could have been prevented.
The investigation is expected to last several weeks, traveling between Salisbury and London. The final report is expected to be published in 2025.
