Photo from Salisbury shop casts doubt on earlier images thought to show him on day of incident

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A CCTV image shows the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal shopping close to his home in Salisbury five days before he and his daughter, Yulia, were apparently poisoned.

Skripal, a regular at Bargain Stop, looked happy and relaxed. He bought milk, Polish smoked bacon and asked for lottery scratchcards. He also handed in a winning one.

Wearing a brown leather jacket, he chatted and laughed with the shopkeeper, Ebru Ozturk, 41. He had walked into the shop at 12.47pm on 27 February.

Ozturk described him as “like a grandfather” and said he came into the shop about once a week and liked to buy scratchcards.

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“He’s a very kind person. I really look forward to him coming in. He often wins money on the scratchcards. He’s very lucky. He was always well dressed and neat,” she told the Guardian.

“He bought lottery tickets a lot. He was very polite. He sometimes came with his daughter. He mentioned that his wife had died a couple of years ago. Whenever I saw him, he was happy.

“I think he was doing lots of business things. He knows lots of different languages, he’s very educated. I think he’s been to lots of different countries. We talked a lot. We chatted about different countries and different foods he cooked. I was about to ask if he wanted any Russian food or vodka – next time he comes in.”

The picture is the first confirmed recent image of Skripal. It casts doubt on the theory that he was caught on CCTV footage on Sunday afternoon close to where he collapsed. The man in the Sunday footage appears slimmer than Skripal.

