18/07/05 06:13:46.19 CAP_USER9.net
URLﾘﾝｸ(www.theguardian.com)
Wiltshire pair poisoned by nerve agent novichok, say police
Substance deemed responsible for severe illness of Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley
The poisoning of a couple in Wiltshire was caused by the nerve agent novichok, Britain’s top counter terrorism officer has announced.
The statement on Wednesday night by Scotland Yard assistant commissioner Neil Basu followed a day of mystery about what caused the collapse of the couple on Saturday, which was first thought to be drug related.
Paramedics were called to their home which is barely eight miles from where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked with a nerve agent in March, which Britain holds Russia responsible for.
The couple are British nationals Dawn Sturgess, 44, from Salisbury, and Charlie Rowley, 45, of Amesbury, who are in critical condition in Salisbury district hospital, where the Skripals were treated four months earlier after being exposed to the nerve agent novichok..
The initial police view was that drugs caused Sturgess and Rowley’s severe illness. But that view started to change in the early hours of Wednesday and a major incident was declared when health officials and police became alarmed at the couple’s symptoms and were unable to pinpoint the cause.
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URLﾘﾝｸ(i.guim.co.uk)