Novichok inquiry: Victim’s mother says family took comfort that nobody else died

The mother of Salisbury poisonings victim Dawn Sturgess has said her family found comfort that she was the only person to be killed by the Russian nerve agent Novichok "when the potential harm was much, much more".

Caroline Sturgess paid tribute to her daughter at the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry on Tuesday, describing her as an "intelligent…extremely selfless and very kind person".

She also read a short statement from Dawn’s daughter, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who said she never got the chance to say goodbye to her mother due to her age.

Caroline told the inquiry that it is a "solace" to her family that Dawn’s daughter was not killed in the incident.

Dawn, 44, died after she was exposed to the chemical weapon, which was left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018.

It happened just a few months after the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and police officer Nick Bailey, who were poisoned in nearby Salisbury.

Ms Sturgess died after her boyfriend Charlie Rowley unwittingly gave her a perfume bottle containing the nerve agent.

An inquiry into her death, which started in Salisbury on Monday 14 October, heard there was "enough poison to kill thousands of people" in the bottle.

Giving a short statement to the inquiry from the witness box, Dawn’s mother said: "Now, she would have been a grandmother but she will never have the absolute joy of meeting her first grandchild and doesn’t get to watch her grow.

"She was an intelligent, funny, extremely selfless and very kind person.

"She always cared deeply for her family and many friends that surrounded her.

"She did not judge a single person and strived to make others happy, even when she didn’t feel like smiling herself."

• WATCH: Caroline Sturgess read out a short statement made by Dawn's daughter

In a short statement made by Dawn’s daughter, read by Caroline, she said it was "heartbreaking" when she heard her mother had fallen ill.

She said: "Me and my mum had a bond that I will never forget.

"The day I heard she had fallen really ill was heartbreaking to hear.

"In my mind I thought she would push through it because there was nothing my mum couldn’t handle.

"The day I heard everyone go to say their goodbyes when she was in intensive care was so upsetting. Shortly after she passed away.

"One thing I will never forget is due to my age I never saw her or got to say goodbye."

The deputy chief constable of Wiltshire Police said the force were initially treating Dawn's poisoning as a drugs overdose, then a drugs overdose with potential pesticide poisoning, which was referred to as a "bad batch incident".

Paul Mills told the inquiry samples had been sent off "as a precaution", then the next day he received an update and was told the testing had come back "and it indicated Novichok".

He apologised to the Sturgess family after internal force documents suggested Dawn was a "known drug user".

Mr Mills said there were "reasons to suspect that she may have become unwell due to her association with drugs", but added that there was "no police intelligence that she was a drug user".

• WATCH: Paul Mills, Deputy Chief Constable, Wiltshire Police apologised to the Sturgess family after internal force documents suggested Dawn was a "known drug user"

Addressing the last time she spoke to her daughter, Ms Sturgess continued: "I last spoke to my daughter on the evening before the incident.

"We spoke at length about the excitement she felt at the prospect of finally leaving the hostel and living independently once more.

"The final part of our conversation that night was discussing taking Dawn’s daughter to her the following day to spend time together. She was to ring me in the morning with a confirmed time for me to drop her off.

"It was pure chance that Dawn had sprayed herself with the Novichok before her daughter arrived.

"Dawn’s death was a tragedy to us all but the fact that her daughter was not killed as well is a solace that we often revisit."

• WATCH: Caroline Sturgess paid tribute to her daughter at the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry on Tuesday

Ms Sturgess told the inquiry her daughter’s main priority was the welfare of her children and she always greeted her youngest daughter "on her knees so she could run into her arms".

She said: "Dawn was raised in a normal, loving, caring family in a village where most knew each other, and where the majority of our family still live today.

"Her circumstances escalated to her living in John Baker House for the last two years of her life.

"Dawn grasped this opportunity to address her issues, she was excited that it would be a new starting block for a fresh chapter. She remained in constant contact and was totally supported by us all.

"Dawn’s main priority continued to be the welfare of her children. Her youngest – still in primary school – was always very excited to see her mum; I tried to take her in to see her as much as possible.

"They loved spending quality time together. Dawn always greeted her in the same manner – on her knees so she could run into her arms."

Concluding her statement, Ms Sturgess said: "We understand that the perfume bottle contained enough Novichok to kill thousands of people.

"Again, although we are devastated by her death, our family find comfort that Dawn was the only life lost that day when the potential harm was much, much more.

"We know she would agree."

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, called the probe into the Novichok poisonings an "unprecedented investigation".

Asked about the scale and complexity of the investigation, he told the inquiry: "This was the first identified use of a chemical weapon in the UK, in this case, in this sense, used as a tool, we say, to conduct an assassination in this style.

"Having worked on the Litvinenko investigation, I understood quite quickly how significant this would be and how completely challenging it would be, so from even our senior investigations through to how we would work with partners to understand who might be responsible for it, the scale of the incident, the impact on the public of Salisbury, this really was an unprecedented investigation, not one that we had seen before, but one that we were able to apply our existing operational processes to in order to respond."

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