Amesbury poisoning - LIVE: 'Contaminated item' blamed for critical condition of Wiltshire couple still not found

Counterror police investigate after pair poisoned with same chemical weapon used in attempted assassination of Russian ex-spy

Amesbury couple were exposed to nerve agent novichok

Police are still hunting for an item contaminated with a Soviet-era nerve agent blamed for the collapse of a couple in Amesbury after the UK government accused Russia of using ”barbaric and inhumane” chemical weapons on Britain’s streets.

Home secretary Savid Javid chaired an emergency Cobra meeting after Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley fell critically ill in Amesbury four months after exposure to the same novichok toxin used in an assassination attempt on Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

The couple are fighting for life in hospital after falling ill on Saturday.

Mr Javid told MPs that results from the government’s Porton Down laboratory confirmed the pair had been poisoned with ”the exact same nerve agent” used in March’s assassination attempt, which the British government alleges was planned by the Kremlin.

Mr Rowley, 45, and Ms Sturgess, 44, are not thought to have been deliberately targeted and have no known links to the Skripals or espionage.

One theory understood to be under investigation is that the pair may have inadvertently found a container used to transport the nerve agent for the initial attack and which may have been discarded in a public place.

Their poisoning has raised serious questions about the multi-million-pound clean-up following the attack in Salisbury, about eight miles from Amesbury.

Police said there is no evidence that either of the latest victims had recently visited any of the sites that were part of the original clean-up.

Securities minister Ben Wallace said the public are at “low risk” but “not zero risk”.

The Russian government has denied involvement in the attack on the Skripals and any role in or knowledge of the incident in Amesbury.

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Key Points

• Wiltshire couple poisoned by same nerve agent as Russian ex-spy
• Public at 'low risk but not zero risk', says security minister 
• Salisbury residents urged not to pick up discarded objects over novichok fears
• Kremlin denies involvement in poisoning 
• Home secretary condemns Russia for 'barbaric and inhumane' chemical weapons attack

[5 July 2018 15:54 · Chris Baynes]

We are expecting an update from authorities on the Amesbury novichok poisoning in just over half an hour.

Senior figures from Wiltshire Police, Salisbury District Hospital, Public Health England and Wiltshire Council will all deliver statements at a multi-agency press conference at 4.30pm.

[5 July 2018 16:11 · Chris Baynes]

The Amesbury poisoning may strengthen the resolve of UK allies who were wavering over sanctions on Russia, experts have suggested.

The latest incident comes ahead of a Nato summit next week in Brussels, where the threat from Russia will be high on the agenda, swiftly followed by Donald Trump's visit to the UK and the US president's face-to-face talks with Vladimir Putin.

Mr Trump's decision to meet the Russian president alone without aides in Helsinki, coupled with his history of disparaging remarks about Nato, has fuelled concerns in European capitals that the White House may be seeking to recast relations with Moscow.

Mr Putin is currently riding high on the widely-acclaimed football World Cup, and experts believe he is seeking to use the sporting spectacle to open up fissures in the international coalition which confronted him after Salisbury.

Following the Salisbury attack, Britain led dozens of countries worldwide - including the US, Germany and France - in expelling more than 150 Russian embassy officials believed to have been involved in spying.

But several Western states have since indicated a willingness to rebuild ties, with France's Emmanuel Macron travelling to St Petersburg to call on Russia to work "hand-in-hand" with Europe, Italy questioning whether sanctions imposed over the 2014 annexation of Crimea should continue, and now the Trump-Putin summit on July 16.

The head of the Russia and Eurasia programme at international affairs think tank Chatham House, James Nixey, told the Press Association: "Memories are short. What was an outrage in early March is now a distant memory to many.

"Russia is making a good fist of the World Cup, and I suspect there will be voices after it is over saying 'Look, Russia is a normal country now, see how well it has organised everything. We should treat it as a normal country and lift sanctions'.

"If suddenly the danger posed by a chemical attack is brought back into the public consciousness in this way, spines will stiffen when they might have been wavering.

"It will remind people who might need reminding that the Salisbury outrage is just as much of an outrage now as it was in March."

Conservative MP Bob Seely, who has written academic studies of Russian warfare, said it was vital Nato remained "coherent and robust" in its stance towards Moscow.

"I am sure that the Prime Minister will be arguing this with President Trump," the Isle of Wight MP said. "Let's hope that he is listening.

"I worry Trump has his own agenda regarding Putin which is unhelpful to the UK and Nato. His rhetoric is getting worse, not better.

"For whatever reason, he seems to want his one-on-one negotiations with Putin to remain private. Last time he met Trump, I understand he only used a single, Russian, translator. This is concerning."

[5 July 2018 16:34 · Chris Baynes]

Wiltshire Police chief constable Kier Pritchard is giving an update on the Amesbury poisoning at a press conference in Salisbury.

[5 July 2018 16:38 · Chris Baynes]

Pritchard said defended the initial decisions made by his police officers, who at first believed Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley had fallen ill on Saturday after taking a contaminated batch of drugs.

Medics later raised concerns that the couple's symptoms pointed towards exposure to a nerve agent. 

The couple both remain critically ill, Pritchard says.

[5 July 2018 16:44 · Chris Baynes]

Protective barriers will be erected in place of cordons in areas of Amesbury and Salisbury that have been closed off by police.

Pritchard said the public should not "be alarmed".

[5 July 2018 16:48 · Chris Baynes]

Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley remain "acutely unwell", says Salisbury District Hospital’s chief executive Cara Charles-Barks says.

She says the hospital's staff are better placed to treat the couple due to their experience of treating Sergei and Yulia Skripal for exposure to the same nerve agent.

[5 July 2018 16:49 · Chris Baynes]

A number of other people have turned up Salisbury District Hospital with concerns they may have been exposed to the novichok which poisoned Sturgess and Rowley but none required treatment following assessment by medics.

[5 July 2018 16:51 · Chris Baynes]

Debbie Stark, Public Health England's deputy director for the south-west, says the risk of public exposure to of novichok is "low".

[5 July 2018 16:57 · Chris Baynes]

Alistair Cunningham, corporate director of Wiltshire Council, has denied that there was "failure" in the clean-up operation following the poisoning of the Skripals.

Responding to a question from a journalist, he said the incident was "unprecedented".

"The sites that have been clean are clean and remain clean," he added

[5 July 2018 17:00 · Chris Baynes]

Police believe they have identified the locations which Sturgess and Rowley visited before falling ill and have cordoned off the places of "most interest", says Wiltshire chief constable Kier Pritchard.