Police investigating the novichok poisoning of a couple in Wiltshire say more than 400 items have been recovered.

A significant number are said to be potentially contaminated and have been submitted to the government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory for analysis.



Despite the recovery on Friday of a small bottle linked to the murder of Dawn Sturgess and the poisoning of Charlie Rowley, searches are expected to continue for several weeks, if not months, as officers try to identify potential sites and sources of contamination.

It comes as Dawn Sturgess’ grieving son has called on Donald Trump to raise his mother’s death with Vladimir Putin.

“I don’t share Donald Trump’s politics and I’ll never be a supporter of his, but I would like him to raise mum’s case with the Russian President,” he told the Sunday Mirror. “We need to get justice for my mum.”

Novichok poisonings 'putting huge strain' on police resources Read more

Hope said he had been told it could be “weeks or even months” before he is able to bury his mother.

“Not only are we trying to solve an extremely serious crime that has been committed, but we’re also working to identify any potential outstanding risks to the public – all whilst ensuring that all those involved in the search process are not themselves exposed to any risk of contamination,” said assistant commissioner Neil Basu, national lead for counter-terrorism policing in the UK.

“It is painstaking and vital work, which unfortunately takes a very long time to complete.”



Search teams must wear protective equipment, which takes 40 minutes to put on and take off inside sterile tents where, during the heatwave, temperatures have often exceeded 40C.



They are limited to searching for just 15 to 30 minutes at each potential site of contamination before they have to exit the crime scene owing to heat and exhaustion. The nature of the protective suits means visibility and dexterity for the searchers is “extremely limited”, police said, further hampering their ability to investigate the scene.



Basu praised the efforts of the scientists and forensic officers who have volunteered to be part of the search teams, knowing that they are risking exposure to a deadly nerve agent. “This shouldn’t be taken for granted and their bravery and dedication is remarkable,” he said.



Blood samples from everyone entering a scene of investigation are taken regularly and compared against a baseline sample to check for any signs of exposure to the nerve agent. Police said that as a result only two deployments of search teams can typically be carried out at any particular scene per day.

Work is ongoing to establish whether the nerve agent found in the bottle that was recovered on Friday, which detectives believe was the source of the poisoning of Sturgess and Rowley, is from the same batch used in the attack against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March. This remains a line of inquiry for the investigation team, police said.