Boy fell ill after Salisbury poisoning victim gave him bread to feed ducks, inquiry hears

29 October 2024, 18:09

A boy fell ill after Salisbury poisoning victim Sergei Skripal gave him bread to feed ducks, an inquiry has heard.

The young boy and two others he was with got sick after the former Russian spy handed him the bread in Salisbury city centre on 4 March 2018, the public inquiry was told.

After Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia collapsed on a bench nearby shortly afterwards, the boy and his friends were traced by public health authorities.

They reported being ill for a day or two after the encounter but no traces of the chemical weapon were found on them when they were eventually tested, the inquiry heard.

The new details came to light on Monday at the inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess.

The 44-year-old died after handling a perfume bottle containing the Russian nerve agent in nearby Amesbury in July 2018.

The Skripals and responding police officer Nick Bailey fell gravely ill after coming into contact with the novichok months earlier in March.

All three survived, along with Ms Sturgess's boyfriend Charlie Rowley, who had unwittingly given her the perfume bottle with British authorities blaming the Russian state for the Salisbury poisonings.

The public inquiry, which is being chaired by former Supreme Court judge Lord Hughes of Ombersley, is now hearing evidence in London after opening in Salisbury earlier this month.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, helped the inquiry piece together the movements of Sergei and Yulia Skripal on March 4 2018.

This included showing footage of them driving into Salisbury, handing a boy bread to feed the ducks, having a drink in The Mill pub and heading to Zizzi restaurant.

Mr Murphy told the inquiry that this information helped detectives set the “time parameters of when the Novichok is likely to have been applied to that door as 6pm on the Saturday and 1.30pm on the Sunday, when (the Skripals) then left.”

The inquiry heard a then chief nurse of the British Army, Alison McCourt, was one of the two to first attend the incident on 4 March, 2018.

Ms McCourt described Russian claims she was partially responsible for the poisonings as "malicious", adding she was only in Salisbury because her children had convinced her to stop at Nando's.

Read more: Poisoned by Novichok: CCTV shows ex-spy and daughter slumped on bench after exposure to Russian nerve agent

Read more: What were the Salisbury Poisonings? Inquiry opens into Novichok death

"I had no prior knowledge of the individuals on the bench - I had never seen them before in my life, nor did I know who they were," she said.

"In fact, having seen the couple on the bench, my initial instinct had in fact been not to get involved as it looked to me as if they were under the influence of drugs. It was only the chiding of my daughter that made me think I ought to go to their aid.

"It goes without saying that I had no idea a nerve agent, nor any other poison, had been the cause of the couple's presentation.

"Given my training, had I known that a nerve agent had been used, I would not have exposed myself to any potential risk of personal harm. I had no equipment, medicine, nor PPE with me."

The inquiry continues.