After two people fell ill in a restaurant, residents say the ensuing ‘carnage’ shows the city is still not back to normal

Residents, visitors and businesspeople have expressed shock and concern over the latest nerve agent scare in Salisbury as police continue to try to establish what caused a couple to fall ill in a city centre restaurant.

Some of those caught up in the incident on Sunday evening, which has led to an Italian restaurant being cordoned off, described how other diners were told they could be in grave danger and were kept segregated.

Police have said novichok was not involved, but have not been able to establish what caused a 42-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman to become unwell in the Prezzo restaurant. It is believed the pair are still being treated at Salisbury district hospital.

A Wiltshire police spokesperson said on Monday: “Due to recent events in the city and concerns that the pair had been exposed to an unknown substance, a highly precautionary approach was taken by all emergency services. This included the use of protective equipment and the setting up of a cordon around the restaurant.

“Tests are continuing to help us build up the picture of what led to these two people falling ill but, due to the recent nerve agent incidents in the county, tests were immediately carried out which enabled us to rule out that the pair had been exposed to novichok. The cordon at Prezzo is likely to remain in place at this time as a precautionary measure.”

DS Jonathan Davies-Bateman said: “Although we were able to rule out the presence of novichok quickly, tests are ongoing to understand what, if anything, the pair have come into contact with which may have caused them to fall unwell. It is crucial that this is done methodically. At this stage it is unclear as to whether or not a crime has been committed.”

Amanda Worne, who was in the Prezzo restaurant when the incident unfolded, said she had been told by a police officer that the pair were Russian. She described the woman as a “beautiful blonde girl”. Worne, a wheelchair user from West Sussex, said she asked the woman if she could sit with her on a sofa. “She was over-polite,” said Worne. “She said: ‘I would be honoured and it would be a privilege to have you sit with me on the sofa.’ [She] looked slightly dishevelled. She wasn’t relaxed. She was a bit stumbly – she wasn’t in control.”

She added that the woman went upstairs to the toilets. “She came down hysterical, saying: ‘Oh my god, we need an ambulance. Someone help.’” Worne said it became clear that the woman was with a man who had suffered a fit.

“The paramedics came. Then they were getting their gowns, their masks, gloves, [and] aprons on. I was gobsmacked. We’re in Salisbury. Someone has had a really bad fit. We said: ‘What shall we do?’ The manager said, ‘You need to move, you need to get out of here. You’ve been sat next to this woman. It’s really serious.’”

Worne described a paramedic as “grey and perspiring”. She added: “He was apprehensive. He said: ‘Just get out.’ The next thing, there were sirens. It was carnage, it was armageddon.

“We were told by a police officer that there were two Russians showing symptoms of novichok and we would probably have to go to hospital for blood checks. It was scary. They said the public health [staff] were coming. We were evacuated. We weren’t allowed to touch people. Everyone was scared to touch us.”

Within 20 minutes, Worne said, they were given the all-clear. But she added: “It was quite a coincidence – two Russians in Salisbury in a restaurant. It’s either a very big coincidence or people are doing things to unnerve us.”

Diners from the Prezzo were held in a disused department store and in the New Inn in a separate room from other customers. One staff member, Phil Downton, said: “We weren’t allowed to go near them. They were on one side of the pub and we were told not to go in there just in case of contamination.”

The incident is another blow for Salisbury. Downton said trade at the pub was 50% down since the poisonings of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in March. “We’re not scared. I think we’re immune to it. Every time it happens it knocks us back.”

Matthew Dean, the leader of Salisbury city council, said there was relief at the quick response from the emergency services, but anger that the community was still suffering. He said footfall in the city was down by 15% and that restaurants and bars were being particularly badly hit.