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 21:28 · Harriet Agerholm]

Viktoria Skripal – a relation of poisoned former Russian spy Sergei and Yulia Skripal – has told The Independent's Moscow Correspondent how the latest novichok incident may be due to Britain’s nearby secret military research facility having "had enough experimenting on animals".

Read more here:

[5 July 2018 21:41 · Harriet Agerholm]

A "contaminated item" blamed for the collapse of the couple in Amesbury has still not been found by police, although public health authorities insist the threat to Salisbury residents is "low". 

More here from our Home Affairs Correspondent here: