Safety measures to protect mourners at funeral of novichok victim Dawn Sturgess

There will be no pallbearers for the service in Salisbury on Monday

Dawn Sturgess fell ill 15 minutes after spraying the nerve agent on her wrists, according to her partner Charlie Rowley

Safety measures have been put in place to protect mourners at the funeral of novichok murder victim Dawn Sturgess.

There will be no pallbearers when the mother of three is cremated in Salisbury on Monday, and her coffin will already be there when people arrive.

Public Health England (PHE) has been working with funeral directors and the crematorium to prevent any further exposure to the nerve agent that caused Ms Sturgess’ death.

Reverend Philip Bromiley, who will be leading the service, said the measures had been put in place to make sure everything is as safe as possible.

“One of the things that it will entail is there won’t be any pallbearers and the coffin will be in situ before we arrive, so obviously there’s probably been precautions around that and the coffin itself,” he said.

“I have got every confidence in the powers that be that they know what they’re doing.

“The family will have 15 minutes of quiet with Dawn’s coffin.”

PHE would not comment on the funeral but a spokeswoman repeated the general advice to the public that the risk remains “low”.

Ms Sturgess, 44, died on 8 July after she and her partner Charlie Rowley, 45, both fell ill after coming into contact with novichok at the end of June.

The incident followed the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with the same nerve agent in Salisbury in March. The Skripals both survived the attack.

Mr Rowley said he remembered finding a sealed box in a cellophane wrapper containing a perfume bottle and gave it to his partner as a gift.

He claimed Ms Sturgess fell ill at his home in Amesbury just 15 minutes after she sprayed the oily substance on to her wrists on 30 June.

Rev Bromiley said he had heard Mr Rowley, who was discharged from hospital earlier this month, would be attending the funeral service.

Ms Sturgess’ mother and father were both involved in planning the funeral, while Ms Sturgess’s daughter chose the first hymn, Shalom Shalom.

“That hymn has set the tone for the whole service,” said Rev Bromiley. ‘We will be wanting to do two things.

“One is to celebrate Dawn’s life, and two, really give thanks for the person that Dawn was because she was a really kind, loving, generous person and I think the family are really keen that that comes across in the service.

“But also, we want to pray that shalom, that peace, will come and permeate through the service and help everyone who’s at the service, and also pray for peace for the family, for the city and for everybody involved.”

PA