Novichok poisoning victim Charlie Rowley treated for meningitis and loss of eyesight

Despite illness, 45-year-old hopes to be discharged 'in next two or three weeks'

Novichok poisoning victim Charlie Rowley is being treated in hospital for meningitis and loss of eyesight, but says he hopes to be discharged in the coming weeks.

The 45-year-old said his eyesight had “improved”, but not yet fully restored, and that there was still “a bit of meningitis in the system” after being readmitted to Salisbury District Hospital two weeks ago.

He told ITV News he was "feeling positive about the news" he was hearing from doctors and is "hoping to get out of hospital in the next two or three weeks".

Mr Rowley and his partner Dawn Sturgess fell ill at his home in Amesbury, near Salisbury, on 30 June, but the mother-of-three died in hospital eight days later having never regained consciousness.

It is believed they were exposed to novichok from a perfume bottle discarded by those responsible for the attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The father and daughter were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury city centre in March having been poisoned by the military grade nerve agent. They have since been released from hospital.

On Tuesday evening, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed both incidents in Wiltshire involved novichok.

The OPCW said in a statement: "The results of the analysis by the OPCW designated laboratories of environmental and biomedical samples collected by the OPCW team confirm the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that intoxicated two individuals in Amesbury and resulted in one fatality.

"The toxic chemical compound displays the same toxic properties of a nerve agent.

"It is also the same toxic chemical that was found in the biomedical and environmental samples relating to the poisoning of Mr Sergei Skripal, Ms Yulia Skripal, and Mr Nicholas Bailey on March 4 in Salisbury."

The attacks have caused an international diplomatic incident, with home secretary Sajid Javid accusing the Russian state of using Britain as a "dumping ground for poison". Russia denies any involvement.

On Tuesday, the Russian Embassy in London once again demanded access to the Skripals.

Six months on from the attack, it has reiterated its belief that the UK is flouting international law by apparently keeping the pair from having contact with embassy officials.

A statement released by the Russian Embassy on Tuesday referred to the circumstances of the March attack as "obscure" and accused British authorities of keeping the pair in isolation ever since their release from hospital.

It said: "They remain out of the public eye at an unknown location, unable to communicate freely with their relatives, friends, journalists or Russian officials, deprived of the freedom of movement."

The statement claimed UK authorities had refused to allow the embassy to have direct contact with the former spy and his daughter "in order to verify their actual health situation, the conditions in which they are held and, most importantly, to ascertain to which extent their isolation is voluntary".

The embassy added that it had sent more than 70 notes and letters to the Foreign Office, Home Office and police since the poisoning but had had nearly all of its queries ignored.

Additional reporting by PA