Skripals will not testify at the Salisbury poisoning inquiry because of the risk of attack

A former spy and his daughter who were poisoned with the deadly nerve agent Novichok will not testify at the Russian state’s Salisbury poisoning investigation out of fears for their safety.

The judge leading the investigation said that if Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were identified and their current whereabouts determined, the risk of an attack on them would not be “sufficiently controllable.”

Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after being exposed to the chemical weapon left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018.

This was followed by the attempted murder of Mr Skripal, his daughter and former police officer Nick Bailey, who were poisoned in nearby Salisbury in March that year.

All three survived, as did Ms Sturgess’ friend Charlie Rowley.

After the attack, more than 120 British military personnel helped decontaminate the city.

In June, a preliminary hearing for the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice heard that the Sturgess family had requested an oral statement from the Skripals to answer “unanswered questions.”

However, Lord Hughes of Ombersley said in his judgment this month that there was an “overwhelming risk” of a physical attack on the Skripals.

“There is every reason to be confident that a similar attack to the one that appears to have taken place in 2018 continues to pose a real risk, either by people with the same interests as the 2018 attackers or by others who are involved “We are interested in supporting the same alleged target if either Sergei or Yulia can be identified and their current whereabouts determined,” he said.

The judge said it would not be possible to ensure adequate security if they appeared in person and also said they would not be allowed to testify remotely because their whereabouts could be traced.

He wrote that the Skripals had made further statements on specific issues concerning the Sturgess family and that transcripts of police interviews with the father and daughter had been disclosed.

“I am quite satisfied that the risk of physical attack to both Skripals clearly outweighs the benefit to the inquiry of their oral evidence,” Lord Hughes said.

“While the disruption and intrusion into their private lives is not enough to dictate the conclusion that they should not testify, it does add another reason to the balance sheet why they should not.”

For the same reasons, the judge also ordered that video and audio recordings of the Skripals being questioned by police in 2018 not be played.

“Playing recordings of the 2018 interviews with one or both Skripals would provide any interested person with an unprecedented opportunity to see and hear them in person,” he wrote.

“That would undoubtedly greatly increase the risk of someone identifying them.”

The public hearing is due to begin on October 14 at the Guildhall in Salisbury.