Baptist minister reveals how he cared for man exposed to Novichok as brother says he has been left in the dark

A Baptist minister has told ITV News how he cared for a man exposed to Novichok in the hours before he was taken unconscious to hospital.

Reverend Roy Collins said Charlie Rowley, who is believed to have been exposed to the nerve agent along with his partner Dawn Sturgess, was "incoherent" when he attended a family fun day at Amesbury Baptist Church, in Wiltshire on Saturday.

"Charlie was there and he did stand out a little bit, he was not very well dressed and was rather disheveled in his appearance.

"I assumed that he had been drinking, so I wanted to get some food into him and he did take something - we had an opportunity to have a very brief chat," he added.

Mr Rowley's tearful brother, Matthew Rowley, told ITV News of his difficulties in finding out about his sibling's condition.

"I've been trying to phone the hospital but can't get through to them, so they won't tell me anything that's going on and I'm a little bit upset," he said.

"He's my brother so I'm obviously concerned about him, I'm getting a bit tearful as well.

"He'd be finished, physically - If it is what they say it is I don't think he would cope with it."

"He is a lovely bloke, he'd do anything for you," he added.

Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley, both in their 40s, were discovered on Saturday evening at a home in Amesbury - just miles from where the Skripals were poisoned.

Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious from the effects of the military nerve agent Novichok on a bench in the cathedral city on March 4.

The Skripals have since recovered and remain under police protection.

Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess remain in Salisbury District Hospital in a critical condition after falling ill at their home in Amesbury, near Salisbury.

The Baptist church has been cordoned off, as police investigate whether the Novichok which the pair came into contact with was from the same batch which was used in the "attempted murder" of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Commenting to the latest poisoning Revd Collins said the community "feel violated" and "shocked".

"Three, four months ago we felt shocked with that incident because we are part of Salisbury, so we felt every inch as what Salisbury did and to see it happen again it's 'oh, not again'."