Amesbury incident latest: Couple 'poisoned' in Wiltshire named as Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess by friend
Friend describes Mr Rowley acting 'like zombie' hours after his girlfriend fell unconscious
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The couple who are fighting for their lives after falling ill in a major incident in Wiltshire have been named as Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess by a friend.
Sam Hobson, 29, told journalists he witnessed Ms Sturgess being carried into an ambulance on a stretcher on Saturday morning after she fell unconscious.
“She was having assistance with her breathing,” he said. “Paramedics said they needed to do a heart and brain scan and so Charlie and I were told we couldn't see her. Charlie was fine at first.”
He said Mr Rowley the slipped into a "zombie-like state" himself several hours later and was taken to Salisbury District Hospital, where they both remain in isolation in a critical condition.
The same hospital treated former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter after they were attacked with nerve agent in the city in March.
A source told The Independent that there was no obvious connection between the incident in Amesbury and the Skripals, saying Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley have no known link to espionage.
Mr Hobson said the “great couple” aged in their 40s, have one daughter each from previous relationships and have been together for several months.
He described taking Mr Rowley to collect a prescription from Boots in Amesbury and on to eat lunch at Amesbury Baptist Church fair, before returning to his friend’s home in Muggleton Road.
Boots, the church and the green outside it are among several sides in the town and nearby Salisbury that have been cordoned off by police.
Mr Hobson said Mr Rowley started falling ill around four hours after Ms Sturgess was taken to hospital, while they were preparing clothes to take to her.
“He felt ill and went for a shower. Then his eyes went bloodshot and like two pin pricks, he began garbling incoherently and I could tell he was hallucinating.
"He was making weird noises and acting like a zombie. It was a zombie-like state. He slumped against the wall.”
Mr Hobson said he called an ambulance and that when paramedics arrived they initially believed the illness was drugs-related because of his friend’s struggle with addiction.
“This doesn't make any sense, I can't see why they'd be targeted…they are a great couple and always there for me,” he added. ”[The authorities] haven't tested me but have been asking me if I’m OK.”
Counterterror police are working on the investigation, while the unknown substance used is undergoing testing at the nearby Porton Down military research facility.
There has been no indication that the incident is terror-related, and counterterror police also led the investigation into the Salisbury nerve agent attack because of their expertise and capacity.
Theresa May attended a meeting of the government's Cobra emergencies committee on Wednesday morning to discuss the incident, and officials will meet again tonight.
A Downing Street spokesperson said it was “understandably being treated with the utmost seriousness” and the Prime Minister would be kept updated.
The incident comes four months after Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with novichok in Salisbury, less than 10 miles from Amesbury, on 4 March.
They were initially in a critical condition but have since been discharged from hospital and are recovering in secret locations amid a continuing police investigation to find the culprit.
The British government has held Russia culpable for the attack, as novichoks were initially developed by the Soviet Union and the Kremlin did not explain how it might have lost control of the weapon.
Police have not confirmed any link between the two incidents and the investigation is ongoing.
Wiltshire Police said they were initially feared to have used contaminated heroin or crack cocaine but further testing is ongoing and investigators are keeping “an open mind”.
Resident Chloe Edwards described seeing police cars, fire engines and people in “green suits” on Saturday night.
“We were just eating our dinner and all these emergency vehicles turned up,” the 17-year-old student said.
“They were putting on these green suits and we thought it was the gas as our electricity was turned off as well.”
Ms Edwards said the vehicles arrived at about 7pm and she and her family were told to stay inside their home until about 10pm.
She added that firefighters had connected a hosepipe to the water mains – a procedure that is commonly used for decontamination.
A specialist “decontamination shower” was taken to the scene by Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service on Saturday, but a crew from Swindon later tweeted that “thankfully the incident wasn't serious and our decontamination shower wasn't required”. The tweet has since been deleted.
Public Health England said there was not believed to be a significant health risk to the wider public.
South West News Service contributed to this report
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