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NOVICHOK COP SICKIES

Cops on the force which probed the Salisbury Novichok poisonings have been going off sick in high numbers

COPS on the force which probed the Salisbury Novichok poisonings have been going off sick in high numbers.

They took an average 13.8 days per year in the 12 months after Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were targeted with the deadly nerve toxin.

Cops that probed the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury have seen a big surge in sick days
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Cops that probed the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury have seen a big surge in sick daysCredit: AFP or licensors

The average number of sick days per year in the UK was just 4.1 in 2017.

Now the Wiltshire force is looking for the reasons behind the spike in sick days — and whether the roots are psychological.

Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson said the “longer term consequences of the exceptional year in Salisbury” would be probed.

The Skripals survived the poisoning, blamed on Russian agents, but locals Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess were accidentally poisoned and Miss Sturgess, 44, died.

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Commissioner Macpherson said: "Staff sickness has been increasing and we have commissioned an investigation.

"We want to triangulate the longer term consequences of the exceptional year in Salisbury and find out how the longer term stress relates to the amount of over time, number of hours worked and pressure brought on them and their families.

"Action plans are developed, a joint staff wellbeing strategy and last week a welfare wagon went to all sites so every member of staff can talk about welfare and get a health check."

Ex-KGB spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, 33, were exposed to nerve agent Novichok and fell gravely ill after having lunch in Salisbury on March 4, 2018
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Ex-KGB spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, 33, were exposed to nerve agent Novichok and fell gravely ill after having lunch in Salisbury on March 4, 2018
Russian Nationals Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, who are wanted for the attempted hit on the Skripals, caught on CCTV
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Russian Nationals Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, who are wanted for the attempted hit on the Skripals, caught on CCTVCredit: PA:Press Association
Police Community Support Officers standing outside the Salisbury home of Sergei Skripal
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Police Community Support Officers standing outside the Salisbury home of Sergei SkripalCredit: PA:Press Association
Police bag items at Queen Elizabeth Gardens, Salisbury, where Dawn Sturgess came into contact with the nerve agent
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Police bag items at Queen Elizabeth Gardens, Salisbury, where Dawn Sturgess came into contact with the nerve agentCredit: PA:Press Association
Novichok murder victim and mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess, 44, was poisoned on June 30 and died on July 8, 2018
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Novichok murder victim and mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess, 44, was poisoned on June 30 and died on July 8, 2018Credit: Press Association Images
Salisbury police officer​ ​Nick Bailey​ ​who was poisoned in novichok attack ​speaks for the first time​
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