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The brother of novichok poisoning victim Charlie Rowley expressed his “surprise” at his sibling’s recovery after he was released from hospital.
Mr Rowley, 45, left Salisbury District Hospital three weeks after being exposed to the nerve agent in Amesbury, Wiltshire, alongside his partner Dawn Sturgess, 44, who later died.
“I’m very surprised because when I first saw him I thought he would be there for months,” his brother, Matthew Rowley, told Sky News . “Obviously he’s stronger than I thought.”
Mr Rowley described his brother’s recollection of what happened the day he was poisoned as “very vague”.
He said his brother could not remember where he and Ms Sturgess had come across the small bottle believed to be the source of the contamination, which was later found in his house.
But he added: “He definitely said to me that they found this bottle of something and Dawn sprayed it on her wrists and that he picked it up and broke it somehow – and that’s how he got it on his hands.”
Confirming Mr Rowley’s release from hospital, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust’s director of nursing Lorna Wilkinson reassured the public he did not create a risk to the community.
Dawn Sturgess, a mother-of-three from Durrington, died after being exposed to novichok (Facebook) “Charlie has been through an appalling experience most of us could never imagine,” she said. “Today is a very welcome milestone in his recovery and all of us here at Salisbury Hospital wish him well as he continues to get better.
“We continue to work closely with Public Health England who have advised that Charlie poses no risk to the community.”
Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess were found collapsed on 30 June in Amesbury, near where Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked with the same substance in March.
Mother-of-three Ms Sturgess’s death on 8 July is being treated as murder.
Show all 40 1 /40Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators, wearing protective suits, emerge with bagged evidence from the rear of John Baker House in Salisbury, after it was confirmed that two people living in Amesbury had been poisoned with the nerve-agent Novichok.
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dawn Sturgess, a mother-of-three from Durrington, died after being exposed to novichok
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police are scouring sections of Salisbury and Amesbury in southwest England, searching for a container feared to be contaminated with traces of the deadly nerve agent Novichok.
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Officers hope that Charlie Rowley, whose partner Dawn died in hospital, can help them establish how the couple came to be contaminated
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok An investigator in a chemical suit works behind screens erected in Rollestone Street
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service personel arrive with safety equipment at the site of a housing estate on Muggleton Road, after it was confirmed that two people had been poisoned with the nerve-agent novichok, in Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators at John Baker House
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police and military personnel seized a car from a quiet residential street in Swindon as part of their ongoing investigations into the nerve agent incident in Salisbury and Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency workers in military protective suits search the fenced off John Baker House
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators at John Baker House
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at John Baker House
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dorset Fire and Rescue Service at the house
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Tents set up by search teams are seen at the end of Rollestone Street, outside the John Baker House for homeless people in Salisbury. British police are scouring sections of Salisbury and Amesbury in southwest England, searching for a container feared to be contaminated with traces of the deadly nerve agent Novichok.
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dorset Fire and Rescue Service at the house in Muggleton Road
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service safety equipment
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police activity at the house in Muggleton Road
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at John Baker House
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service safety equipment
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at the house in Muggleton Road in Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Members of the emergency services at the house in Muggleton Road
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Gas masks
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service personel prepare safety equipment
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police investigators arrive at the site of a housing estate on Muggleton Road
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok A police officer stands guard behind the housing estate
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police on the scene
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok The couple remain in a critical condition at Salisbury District Hospital
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok In March Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were poisoned with the Russian-made Novichok in the town of Salisbury. British Prime Minister Theresa May has accused Russia of being behind the attack on the former spy and his daughter, expelling 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police are cordoning off places the people are known to have visited before falling ill
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police officers stand outside a residential property in Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police Paul Mills makes a statement to the press outside The Bowman Centre after Wiltshire Police declared the situation a major incident
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury Baptist Centre
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury resident Sam Hobson, speaks to assembled press outside Amesbury Baptist Centre claiming to be a friend of the man and woman exposed to an unknown substance
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok The pair were found unconscious at an address in Muggleton Road, Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police cordon at Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury. The town is around 10 miles from Salisbury where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in a suspected nerve agent attack
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police Paul Mills makes a statement
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police officers stand outside Boots pharmacy, near to the Barcroft Medical Centre in Amesbury
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Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury Baptist Centre
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Police are believed to have identified the suspected perpetrators of the novichok attack on Russian former spy Mr Skripal and his daughter.
Novichok was produced by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Britain has blamed Russia for poisoning the spy and his daughter, who both recovered, as well as accidently poisoning Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess.
Russia has denied any involvement.
