Vial contained “enough poison to kill thousands”

The vial opened by Dawn Sturgess before her death contained “enough poison to kill thousands of people”, an inquest heard.

Former spy Sergei Skripal also said at the hearing that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind a plot to poison him with the nerve agent Novichok.

An inquest is being held into the death of 44-year-old Ms Sturgess, who was killed by poison left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in 2018.

Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia were seriously injured when members of a Russian military intelligence agency were believed to have smeared the nerve agent on his doorknob.

“I never imagined that the Russian regime would try to murder me in Britain,” he told the commission of inquiry in a written statement.

• Inquiry consultant Andrew O’Connor KC described Sturgess as an “innocent victim caught in the crossfire of an illegal and outrageous assassination attempt”.

• He added that the nerve agent found in a perfume bottle used by Sturgess contained enough to kill thousands

• Dawn Sturgess’ family has called on Putin to testify at the inquiry and look the “family in the eyes”.

• Michael Mansfield KC spoke for the Sturgess family. He says Wiltshire Police concluded Sturgess and his partner Charlie Rowley were suffering from drug overdoses, which had an impact on their medical treatment

• Charlie Rowley continues to suffer from long-term injuries including vision, balance and memory problems, says Adam Straw KC, representative of the Sturgess family

Russia denied involvement in the death and said the investigation was a “circus.”

The Skripals will not testify in person at the public inquiry out of concern for their safety.

In an interview in May 2018, two months after he, his daughter Yulia and then-police officer Nick Bailey were poisoned in Salisbury, Wiltshire in March of that year, a police officer told him that he believed President Putin was responsible.

In a transcript of a police interview, Skripal can be seen saying: “This is my private opinion.”

Last week, Mr Skripal provided another witness statement to the inquiry in which he said: “It is not honorable to kill people who have been exchanged and the attack on Yulia and me was an absolute shock,” it said Investigation.

He added in the statement read by Mr O’Connor: “I had received a presidential pardon and was a free man with no convictions under Russian law.

“They could have easily killed me if they wanted to while I was in prison.”

Mr Skripal also said that he had led a “completely normal life” after leaving Russia but considered returning to Russia “dangerous”.

He said President Putin “must have at least given permission for the attack.”

Mr Skripal said: “I believe that Putin makes all the important decisions himself. So I think he at least gave permission for the attack on Julia and me.

“Any GRU (Russian Federation) commander who made such a decision without Putin’s permission would have been severely punished.”

Mr O’Connor also said that Jonathan Allen, a senior official at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, had provided the inquiry with a statement in which he said it was the government’s view that Putin had “authorised the operation”.

The Salisbury poisonings led to the British government expelling 23 people described as “spies posing as diplomats”.

At the time, it effectively dismantled the Russian spy network in the United Kingdom, which officials say they have since worked to rebuild.

Other Western countries followed suit, with a total of more than 100 spies being sent back to Russia, the investigation says.

The investigation will examine whether British authorities took appropriate precautions to protect Mr Skripal from attacks in early 2018.

Mr O’Connor said the fact that Mr Skripal was a former senior GRU officer living in the UK “arguably puts him at some risk”.

He added that Mr Skripal himself recognized this in a police interview in 2018, in which he said: “I am a very important man in the special service.”

“I still know a lot of Russian secrets, top secrets, they are really dangerous for the Russian secret services.”

The inquest will also consider whether Ms Sturgess’ poisoning could have been prevented.

The investigation will last several weeks and will take place between Salisbury and London. A final report is expected in 2025.