Novichok 2
Couple fighting for life WERE poisoned with Novichok – the same nerve agent used on ex-Russian spy
A COUPLE have been left fighting for their lives by traces of deadly Novichok from the Salisbury spy poisoning.
Mum-of-three Dawn Sturgess, 44, was in a coma after she collapsed unable to breathe.
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Her boyfriend Charlie Rowley, 45, was said to have been turned into a dribbling, hallucinating zombie.
They are thought to have stumbled across a discarded container or syringe used to carry the nerve agent which poisoned ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Security officials were briefing Theresa May last night after receiving test results from the Government’s Porton Down lab, which police said confirmed the agent involved was Novichok.
Officials thought they had cleaned up all the Novichok left after the Skripals were poisoned in March.
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Alcoholic Dawn lives in a refuge just 300 yards from the Zizzi restaurant where the Skripals ate on the day they were poisoned.
Police sealed off a bin near the building and a city park, Queen Elizabeth Gardens, which the couple had visited on Friday.
Dawn was staying with heroin addict boyfriend Charlie at his home in Amesbury, eight miles away, on Saturday when the pair became ill.
They had been to an Amesbury Baptist Church barbecue before Dawn fell unconscious and was taken to hospital at 11am.
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Five hours later, Charlie was also taken to hospital after slumping into a “zombie-like state”.
Doctors alerted police after realising their symptoms were similar to those suffered by the Skripals.
Yesterday Charlie’s home, the church, the refuge where Dawn lives and a Boots shop which Charlie visited on Saturday were also cordoned off.
Sam Hobson, 29, was helping best friend Charlie pack clothes for Dawn after she went to hospital.
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He said: “He felt ill and went for a shower. Then his eyes went bloodshot and like two pin pricks. He began garbling incoherently and I could tell he was hallucinating.
“He was making weird noises and acting like a zombie. He was dribbling and rocking backwards and forwards.”
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Public Health England said it did not believe there to be a “significant health risk” to the wider public.
But chief medical officer Prof Dame Sally Davies warned people to be careful when picking up unknown objects and said those who had been in the area should wash clothes and clean shoes with baby wipes.
Novichok is so potent that the tiniest trace can be deadly. The Skripals spent weeks in hospital after the attack, blamed on Russia, and are still recovering.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid will chair a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergencies committee on Thursday, Downing Street said.
Assistant Commissioner of Specialist Operations Neil Basu told a press conference that the affected pair had not visited any of the sites decontaminated following the Salisbury attack.
He added: "However, I must say that we are not in a position to say whether the nerve agent was from the same batch that the Skripals were exposed to. The possibility that these two investigations might be linked is clearly a line of enquiry for us.
"It is important, however, that the investigation is led by the evidence available and the facts alone and we don’t make any assumptions.
"We are keen to hear from anyone who may have information that could assist with this investigation and if you think you do, I would urge you to contact police by calling 0800 789 321."
Russian scientist who made Novichok, Vladimir Uglev, tells BBC he has no doubt it was used in Skripal case
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