Novichok inquiry: Who was Dawn Sturgess and how was she poisoned?
Novichok Inquiry: Who is Dawn Sturgess and how was she exposed to the nerve agent?
The independent inquiry into how a British woman was fatally poisoned after being exposed to the Russian Novichok is set to open today.
Dawn Sturgess died after she became exposed to the nerve agent in July 2018.
It followed the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and then police officer Nick Bailey, who were poisoned in Salisbury in March that year.
How was Dawn Sturgess poisoned?
Dawn Sturgess died after being exposed to the chemical weapon which was left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018.
The 44-year-old mother of three died after coming into contact with the deadly nerve agent by accident.
Ms Sturgess’s boyfriend Charlie Rowley had unwittingly given her the bottle containing Novichok.
Emergency services first discovered Ms Sturgess was unwell on 30 June 2018, when paramedics from South Western Ambulance Service were called to a residential address in Amesbury, where she had collapsed.
Ms Sturgess was taken to Salisbury District Hospital, where medics and police realised she had been poisoned by the same nerve agent used on the Skripal's eight miles away, almost four months earlier.
What are nerve agents and what is Novichok?
Nerve agents are highly toxic chemicals that prevent the nervous system from working, and can be fatal.
They can take different forms, including liquid and gas, and individuals can be exposed following skin contact or by breathing in the vapor.
Novichok is the name for a family of nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, and said to be the world's most powerful nerve agent.
The name means "newcomer" in Russian, which signifies the huge breakthrough it made in chemical weapons development.
No one knew that Novichok existed until 1992, when a chemist whistleblower, Vil Mirzayanov, was jailed for revealing that the binary nerve agent had been secretly developed by the Soviets.
It was thought to be eight to 10 times as powerful as anything in America's arsenal at that time.
What is happening at the inquiry?
The inquiry into how Dawn Sturgess died is set to open on Monday 14 October.
Following the Salisbury poisonings, an international arrest warrant was issued for three Russian men thought to be involved in the attacks on British soil, but as the Russian constitution does not allow the extradition of its citizens it is unlikely they will ever stand trial.
Two suspects gave an interview with Russian state media in which they said they were only in the UK, briefly, to visit Salisbury Cathedral.
It was previously revealed that the Skripals will not give evidence at the inquiry over fears for their safety.
It comes as Wiltshire Police said people in Salisbury city centre can expect to see an increased police presence for the duration of the hearing.
They added that there is "no current intelligence to suggest there is any risk to the wider public".
In June, a preliminary hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice heard that the Sturgess family wanted the Skripals to give oral evidence to address "unanswered questions".
They were, however, excused from doing so in a subsequent ruling, with the relevant judgment citing an "overwhelming risk" of another physical attack on their lives.
The then-Home Secretary Priti Patel ordered that the inquest into Ms Sturgess’s death be converted into a public inquiry in 2021.
The Dawn Sturgess Inquiry, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Lord Hughes of Ombersley, is due to begin at The Guildhall in Salisbury on Monday.
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