How the incident unfolded after a couple were hospitalised following exposure to nerve agent novichok

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Saturday 30 June



Two people in their 40s fall ill at a property in Muggleton Road in Amesbury, about eight miles to the north of Salisbury in Wiltshire.

Sam Hobson, a 29-year-old friend of the couple, names them as Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, a couple, and describes how he had been with them enjoying the sunshine the previous day. He says both were taken to hospital on Saturday.

Counter-terror police investigate Wiltshire novichok poisoning Read more

According to a local media report published on Saturday evening, nearly a dozen emergency service vehicles arrive in the Muggleton Road area shortly after 6.30pm and one person is taken to hospital. Spire FM says the incident is “thought to have been a drug-related medical episode”. Roads are reportedly closed, but soon reopened, it says.

Monday 2 July

Wiltshire police say two people are in hospital in a serious condition. The people affected are not officially named by police, who still believe they have fallen victim to a contaminated batch of drugs – “possibly heroin or crack cocaine”. Officers publicly release a warning about the dangers of such drugs shortly after the couple is found.

However, the Metropolitan police’s senior counter-terrorism officer Neil Basu will later reveal that samples from both patients have been sent to Porton Down laboratory for analysis on Monday.

Wednesday 4 July

In the early hours, police declare a “major incident” after revealing that the couple have been exposed to an “unknown substance”. They say both are in a critical condition.

Questions raised by the second Wiltshire nerve agent poisoning Read more

Various sites visited by the couple in Amesbury and Salisbury during Friday and Saturday are cordoned off by police. Officers say they are keeping an open mind about what happened.



By lunchtime, Scotland Yard releases a short statement making clear that, “as you would expect, given the recent events in Salisbury”, officers from the counter-terrorism network are now involved in the investigation.

Fears begin to grow during the afternoon that the substance they have been exposed to is novichok – the nerve agent used during the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Play Video 2:35 CCTV footage shows novichok victim day before attack – video report

Downing Street says the home secretary, Sajid Javid, will chair a meeting of the government’s emergencies committee, Cobra, on Thursday.

Later that night, Scotland Yard confirms that tests show the couple – who have still not been formally named, but are confirmed to be British – had indeed been exposed to the nerve agent.

Police focus on how that came about and are unable to say whether it was the same batch that the Skripals were exposed to. Investigators are trying to track the exact movements of Sturgess and Rowley from around 10pm on Friday.

Health officials advise anyone who visited the cordoned-off sites between 10pm on Friday and 6.30pm on Saturday to wash any clothes and clean any other items they had with them as a precaution.

Sunday 8 July

The Met police launch a murder investigation after Dawn Sturgess dies in hospital following exposure to the nerve agent novichok. Her partner Charlie Rowley remains in a critical condition.

Counter-terror officers are still working to determine how the couple were exposed to the nerve agent, but had determined the couple were poisoned after handling a contaminated item.

Before news of the death, Javid says there are no plans to impose fresh sanctions on Russia following the latests poisonings and the government would not “jump to conclusions”.