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The nerve agent that poisoned two people in Wiltshire was contained inside a perfume bottle, according to the brother of one of the victims.
Dawn Sturgess was killed, and her partner Charlie Rowley was left severely ill, after they were both exposed to Novichok in Amesbury more than two weeks ago.
Matthew Rowley said his brother Charlie told him that he had picked up the perfume bottle.
The Metropolitan Police - who only said that the nerve agent was found in a “small bottle” inside the victim's home - refused to confirm the claim.
Matthew Rowley told BBC News he was still upset about his brother's condition after speaking to him on the telephone.
Charlie is "absolutely not the brother I know" following the poisoning, Mr Rowley said.
Investigators believe the incident is linked to the novichok poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March.
Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichokShow all 40 1 /40Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators, wearing protective suits, emerge with bagged evidence from the rear of John Baker House in Salisbury, after it was confirmed that two people living in Amesbury had been poisoned with the nerve-agent Novichok.
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dawn Sturgess, a mother-of-three from Durrington, died after being exposed to novichok
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police are scouring sections of Salisbury and Amesbury in southwest England, searching for a container feared to be contaminated with traces of the deadly nerve agent Novichok.
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Officers hope that Charlie Rowley, whose partner Dawn died in hospital, can help them establish how the couple came to be contaminated
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok An investigator in a chemical suit works behind screens erected in Rollestone Street
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service personel arrive with safety equipment at the site of a housing estate on Muggleton Road, after it was confirmed that two people had been poisoned with the nerve-agent novichok, in Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators at John Baker House
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police and military personnel seized a car from a quiet residential street in Swindon as part of their ongoing investigations into the nerve agent incident in Salisbury and Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency workers in military protective suits search the fenced off John Baker House
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators at John Baker House
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at John Baker House
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dorset Fire and Rescue Service at the house
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Tents set up by search teams are seen at the end of Rollestone Street, outside the John Baker House for homeless people in Salisbury. British police are scouring sections of Salisbury and Amesbury in southwest England, searching for a container feared to be contaminated with traces of the deadly nerve agent Novichok.
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dorset Fire and Rescue Service at the house in Muggleton Road
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service safety equipment
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police activity at the house in Muggleton Road
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at John Baker House
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service safety equipment
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at the house in Muggleton Road in Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Members of the emergency services at the house in Muggleton Road
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Gas masks
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service personel prepare safety equipment
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police investigators arrive at the site of a housing estate on Muggleton Road
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok A police officer stands guard behind the housing estate
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police on the scene
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok The couple remain in a critical condition at Salisbury District Hospital
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok In March Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were poisoned with the Russian-made Novichok in the town of Salisbury. British Prime Minister Theresa May has accused Russia of being behind the attack on the former spy and his daughter, expelling 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police are cordoning off places the people are known to have visited before falling ill
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police officers stand outside a residential property in Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police Paul Mills makes a statement to the press outside The Bowman Centre after Wiltshire Police declared the situation a major incident
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury Baptist Centre
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury resident Sam Hobson, speaks to assembled press outside Amesbury Baptist Centre claiming to be a friend of the man and woman exposed to an unknown substance
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok The pair were found unconscious at an address in Muggleton Road, Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police cordon at Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury. The town is around 10 miles from Salisbury where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in a suspected nerve agent attack
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police Paul Mills makes a statement
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police officers stand outside Boots pharmacy, near to the Barcroft Medical Centre in Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury Baptist Centre
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Police are investigating the possibility the culprit discarded a novichok container that was picked up unwittingly by Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley four months later.
Detectives investigating the novichok poisoning have seized hundreds of items - which have been sent to the government’s Porton Down defence laboratory for testing.
Earlier this week, people in the Amesbury and Salisbury areas were told not to pick up "containers, syringes, needles, cosmetics or similar objects" by the chief medical officer at Public Health England.