Woman Exposed to Nerve Agent in UK’s Amesbury Dies

Local Editor

Dawn Sturgess, the woman who fell ill after being exposed to the same nerve agent as former spy Sergei Skripal, has died.

She and her friend were taken to a Salisbury hospital a week ago.

Police don't know at the moment how Sturgess, 44, and Charlie Rowley, 45, were exposed to Novichok.

The pair were discovered unconscious in a property in Muggleton Road, Amesbury, last Saturday, however, the incident was only brought to light on Wednesday when the police revealed that the two were treated “for suspected exposure to an unknown substance.”

The substance in question was initially believed to be heroin or crack cocaine from a tainted batch of drugs, but “expert scientists” later confirmed it to be the same Novichok-class nerve agent that was used to poison the Skripals in March, according to the UK government's claims.

Amesbury is located just nine miles from the site of Skripal incident, which occurred in March.

Unlike with the Skripal case, UK authorities have not pin the blame squarely on Russia while the investigation is underway. Moscow has vehemently denied the allegations, repeatedly calling upon London to conduct a transparent investigation. 

Police have said they've opened a murder inquiry into Sturgess’ death.

"This terrible news has only served to strengthen our resolve to identify and bring to justice the person or persons responsible for what I can only describe as an outrageous, reckless and barbaric act,” UK counter-terrorism chief Neil Basu said in a statement.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team