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
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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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Alistair Cunningham, corporate director of Wiltshire Council, has acknowledged authorities will not be able to conclusively establish there is no further remnants of novichok in Salisbury.
But he said the fact only two patients had fallen ill suggested the incident was "contained".
It cannot be ruled out that there is more Novichok in the Salisbury area, a council chief has said.
Asked if the public is safe from finding more of the nerve agent, Alistair Cunningham, Wiltshire Council's corporate director, said: "The investigative work will be what leads us to those sites that we seek to decontaminate.
"It has always been said the risk is low."
Police put the public at danger if the latest poisonings came from the container holding the Novichok used in the Salisbury attack, a former senior British military intelligence officer has said.
Philip Ingram, who was in the military for more than 26 years, said: "They could have easily thrown whatever it was they used to contaminate the Skripals' front door.
"They could have thrown it under a hedge, they could have thrown it into a school playground, they could've put it under the seat in a local train and could've caused greater casualties elsewhere.
"By not focusing on that they have put the public at risk."
The Met said: "This is a fast-moving investigation involving around 100 detectives from the Counter Terrorism Network who are working around the clock alongside colleagues from Wiltshire police.
"The focus of the investigation remains identifying the source of the contamination as quickly as possible."
It said there was no evidence that the two patients had visited any of the sites that were decontaminated following the attempted murders of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March this year.
"We are not in a position to say whether the nerve agent was from the same batch that the Skripals were exposed to.
"The investigation into the attempted murders of the Skripals is ongoing as detectives continue to assess all the evidence available."
The two patients were exposed to the nerve agent after handling a contaminated item, the Metropolitan Police said.
"Detectives are working as quickly and as diligently as possible to identify the source of the contamination," the force said.
"Meticulous and systematic searches are under way at a number of sites. The safety of the public and our officers remains paramount and the searches will take longer because of the precautions that we must take to ensure there is no outstanding risk.
"Officers are wearing protective equipment as they carry out their activity and protective barriers may also be installed at some of these sites."
A Russian Embassy spokesman said: "All allegations of Russia's involvement in the incidents in Salisbury and Amesbury are merely speculative and are not based on objective data of the investigation."
The spokesman said the British authorities had not contacted them about the Amesbury incident and accused the Government of trying to "muddy the waters" and "frighten its own citizens".
"We cannot judge if the sample analysis was correct, or if any parallels with the Salisbury poisoning are well founded.
"It is regrettable that UK officials try to link a second poisoning with Russia without having produced any credible results of the investigation of the first one.
"Instead of genuine co-operation, London is doing everything possible to muddy the waters, to confuse and frighten its own citizens. One can only guess what the reasons behind such a line of behaviour are."
Debbie Stark, deputy director for Public Health England in the South West, told the press conference that anyone who may have been in any of the cordoned-off areas after 10pm last Friday should take some precautionary measures about washing clothing and cleaning jewellery.
Asked how the 10pm cut-off period had been reached, Ms Stark said: "The scientific advice we are working from relates to the onset of symptoms for one of the cases and counts back to the longest period we would have expected exposure to cause those symptoms, so that is why we have come up with the time."
The pregnant neighbour of Novichok victim Charlie Rowley has spoken about her concerns for the health of her unborn baby and her anger at the lack of information and advice from authorities.
Becky Stewart said she had been forced to find out information from the news as she was not being told anything.
"People are just running around not telling us anything," she told ITV News.
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