Novichok poison victim Dawn Sturgess before life took its toll
PROUDLY posing in her Brownie uniform, Novichok poison victim Dawn Sturgess is the picture of innocence.
In another snap, her natural maternal instinct is evident as she cradles her baby sister as they sit astride a tractor on a family day out.
These photos, never published before, also show the pretty blonde holding her own child — a picture of health and happiness.
But soon after, her life would spiral out of control as she turned to drink to cope with postnatal depression following the birth of Aidan, now 23.
Dawn, described as a “gentle soul”, battled the illness for two decades.
And only days before she was fatally poisoned by a deadly Russian nerve agent in Salisbury, she gave her family hope that she was finally turning her life around.
She had been receiving treatment for her alcoholism and had plans to move out of her hostel into a flat.
She also professed her love for boyfriend Charlie Rowley.
But her happiness was cut short when the couple were poisoned after being exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.
The mum-of-three slipped into a coma and died eight days later, while Charlie remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Her death is now at the centre of a counterterrorism murder probe linking her to the assassination attempt on ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia which could lead to Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.
Dawn’s former partner Andy Hope is father of her two sons Aidan, 23, and Ewan, 19.
He said the boys were devastated.
Andy, 46, told The Sun: “They both loved their mum.
Nerve agent poison victim Dawn outside her first house in Amesbury in 1997
This week Ewan, who had been working as a bricklayer on the housing estate where his mum fell ill, wrote online: “Rest in peace mum. I love you so much — I’m sorry I wasn’t a better son.”
Friends said Aidan is “too angry and distraught” to speak.
The final images of Dawn captured on CCTV show her buying alcohol, a pale and gaunt woman — a far cry from the treasured snaps in the family photo album.
Friends said Dawn spent a happy childhood growing up in Durrington, Wilts, near Stonehenge.
She worked part-time at the Stonehenge Inn and regularly attended the summer solstice at the monument with friends.
Engineer Andy met fun-loving Dawn in the mid-1990s and they moved in together in Amesbury before Aidan was born in 1995.
Friends believe her alcoholism could have been triggered by postnatal depression.
Andy described “alarm bells” when he would return home from working away to find no food in the house.
He later learned Dawn argued with shopkeepers over alcohol.
The bottle soon destroyed their eight-year relationship and they split in 2002.
Aidan lived with his dad and his new fiancé in Salisbury.
Ewan lived in Amesbury with Dawn’s parents, who also looked after her ten-year-old daughter Grace from a later relationship.
Just over a year ago Dawn fell for Charlie, who she met at John Baker House, the homeless hostel she had moved into.
She hinted at past heartbreak in a Facebook post last March, writing: “Fell in love . . . never bodes well for me . . . but I trust Charlie with my life.”
She was a regular visitor to his Amesbury flat and they would often spend their days in Salisbury scouring the ground for discarded or forgotten items.
Dawn would brighten up her room with ornaments they had found.
Hinting at her “skip diving”, she wrote: “More great finds gifts from Charlie Boi xxx happy happy me but I’m running out of room on my wrists xx.”
Friends said she and Charlie would often hang out around the Maltings shopping precinct where the Skripals were found close to death after the earlier Novichok poisoning.
Tragically, just days before she was poisoned, Dawn had given her family hope that she had turned a major corner in her life.
She had got back in touch with Ewan, confessed her love for Charlie and, on Facebook, hinted at a better life.
On June 25 she wrote: “Every lil thing is going to be OK XXX”
A day earlier she shared a message outlining her wish for a “life partner” she can “trust with my heart”. Underneath she wrote: “Charles Rowley xx it’s you.”
On June 23 she wrote on Facebook how proud she was of her two sons.
She posted a photo of a silver bracelet chosen by Grace for her 44th birthday a week earlier and shared a snap of them enjoying pizza with her daughter.
Friend Sam Hobson, 29, was with Dawn in the final hours before she fell into a coma.
The pair and Charlie spread out on a rug bought from Barnardo’s and enjoyed the sun at Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury.
Sam, of Amesbury, said: “She was drinking in the sun and dyeing our hair to celebrate England in the World Cup.
“We had a really happy day. We never thought it would end like this.”
The friends returned to Dawn’s home before catching a bus to Charlie’s housing association flat in Amesbury.
When Dawn collapsed and was taken to hospital on a ventilator on Saturday, June 30, police initially feared she had come into contact with a batch of bad heroin.
But friends are adamant that although Dawn was an alcoholic and dabbled with amphetamines, she did not take heroin or crack.
Charlie was devastated after Dawn fell ill, having lost a previous partner to cancer.
At Amesbury Baptist Church he prayed for her to recover just hours before he too fell into a coma.
Tests revealed they had been infected with the nerve agent on Monday evening.
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The Metropolitan Police have confirmed the Novichok that infected the couple came from a bottle in Charlie’s home.
Cops have no forensic link but say it is “implausible” the nerve agent is not from the same batch that struck down the Skripals.
A container of Novichok can last for 50 years.
It is possible Dawn and Charlie found the bottle in March when the Skripals were poisoned and opened it only recently.
Assistant commissioner Neil Basu, head of UK counter- terrorism, said: “These are two of the unluckiest people ever.”
Dawn’s friend and neighbour Jake Murphy, 49, said: “She wasn’t homeless but she had a problem with alcohol.
“She came to John Baker House to turn her life around.”
Tragically, a cruel twist of fate meant she never got the chance.