Two industrial rubbish bins where the bottle of deadly novichok that killed Dawn Sturgess may have been found have been removed from Salisbury for testing.

Charlie Rowley told ITV News there was a possibility he found the item while looking for “treasure” among rubbish in the city centre days before falling ill. He described his memory of finding what he believed to be a sealed bottle of perfume as “vague”, ruling out all potential locations apart from bins at the back of shops near The Cloisters pub.

The two bins he identified as a possibility have now been seized for testing at the Porton Down defence laboratory, with photos showing them being covered in protective tarpaulin and loaded onto a van on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police confirmed two bins had been removed from behind shops in Catherine Street and taken for analysis. “Officers from the Counter Terrorism Policing Network are continuing to speak to Charlie Rowley about his recollections prior to him falling ill,” a statement added. “The advice from Public Health England remains that the risk to the public is low.”

Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that another bottle of novichok may have been dumped by the culprits who targeted Sergei Skripal and his daughter in March.

Dawn Sturgess, a mother-of-three, died in hospital days after being poisoned with novichok (Metropolitan Police)

Mr Rowley does not believe he picked up the bottle in nearby Queen Elizabeth Gardens, but police said searches continued in the park as a “highly precautionary measure to ensure that there is nothing of investigative relevance at that location, and to provide confidence to the public that it is safe to use the area when it is reopened”. Precautionary tests are also being carried out on the Wiltshire air ambulance, ambulance station, emergency vehicles and kit worn by the first responders who treated Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley. On Tuesday a cordoned-off path was reopened to the public, following the reopening of sheltered accommodation at John Baker House where Ms Sturgess lived.

Relatives and friends of the mother-of-three attended a private funeral on Monday, where Ms Sturgess’s 11-year-old daughter spoke. Ms Sturgess was remembered by her family as a “gentle soul who was generous to a fault”. She died in hospital on 8 July, little over a week after collapsing at Mr Rowley’s home in Amesbury.

Mr Rowley recalled presenting the “perfume” to his partner as a gift before she sprayed the “oily” substance directly onto her wrists, while he got some on his hands before quickly washing it off. Ms Sturgess fell ill within minutes on the morning of 30 June and Mr Rowley was taken to hospital hours later, with a major incident declared after tests showed they had been exposed to a nerve agent.

An inquest into Ms Sturgess’s death has been adjourned to January, as a police murder investigation continues alongside searches and decontamination work in Salisbury and Amesbury. Mr Rowley, 45, was initially in a critical condition but was discharged from Salisbury District Hospital on 20 July. The leading line of inquiry is that the couple came into contact with novichok dumped in Salisbury by the people who poisoned the Skripals.

Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Show all 40 1 /40 Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators, wearing protective suits, emerge with bagged evidence from the rear of John Baker House in Salisbury, after it was confirmed that two people living in Amesbury had been poisoned with the nerve-agent Novichok. Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dawn Sturgess, a mother-of-three from Durrington, died after being exposed to novichok Facebook Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police are scouring sections of Salisbury and Amesbury in southwest England, searching for a container feared to be contaminated with traces of the deadly nerve agent Novichok. Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Officers hope that Charlie Rowley, whose partner Dawn died in hospital, can help them establish how the couple came to be contaminated AFP Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok An investigator in a chemical suit works behind screens erected in Rollestone Street PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service personel arrive with safety equipment at the site of a housing estate on Muggleton Road, after it was confirmed that two people had been poisoned with the nerve-agent novichok, in Amesbury Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators at John Baker House Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police and military personnel seized a car from a quiet residential street in Swindon as part of their ongoing investigations into the nerve agent incident in Salisbury and Amesbury SWNS Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency workers in military protective suits search the fenced off John Baker House AP Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok A forensic investigator, wearing a protective suit, emerges from the rear of John Baker House, after it was confirmed that two people had been poisoned with the nerve-agent Novichok, in Amesbury, Britain, July 6, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls HENRY NICHOLLS Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic investigators at John Baker House Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at John Baker House EPA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dorset Fire and Rescue Service at the house PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Tents set up by search teams are seen at the end of Rollestone Street, outside the John Baker House for homeless people in Salisbury. British police are scouring sections of Salisbury and Amesbury in southwest England, searching for a container feared to be contaminated with traces of the deadly nerve agent Novichok. AP Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Dorset Fire and Rescue Service at the house in Muggleton Road PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service safety equipment Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police activity at the house in Muggleton Road PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at John Baker House EPA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service safety equipment PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police tents are erected outside a residential address in Amesbury, southern England, on July 6, 2018 where police reported a man and woman were found unconscious in circumstances that sparked a major incident after contact with what was later identified as the nerve agent Novichok. Police on July 6, 2018, raced to find the object that contaminated a British couple with the Soviet-made Novichok nerve agent in southwestern England where a former Russian spy was poisoned with the same toxin four months ago. / AFP PHOTO / Chris J RatcliffeCHRIS J RATCLIFFE/AFP/Getty Images CHRIS J RATCLIFFE AFP/Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Emergency services arrive at the house in Muggleton Road in Amesbury PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Members of the emergency services at the house in Muggleton Road PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Gas masks AFP/Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Forensic tents outside John Baker House on Rolleston Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, where counter-terrorism police are investigating after a couple were left in a critical condition when they were exposed to the nerve agent Novichok. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday July 6, 2018. Dawn Sturgess, 44, and Charlie Rowley, 45, were taken ill on Saturday in Amesbury, around eight miles from where former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned with the same substance in Salisbury in March. See PA story POLICE Amesbury. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire Sam Blewett PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Fire and Rescue Service personel prepare safety equipment Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police investigators arrive at the site of a housing estate on Muggleton Road Reuters Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok A police officer stands guard behind the housing estate REUTERS Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police on the scene Getty Images Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok The couple remain in a critical condition at Salisbury District Hospital AFP/Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok In March Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were poisoned with the Russian-made Novichok in the town of Salisbury. British Prime Minister Theresa May has accused Russia of being behind the attack on the former spy and his daughter, expelling 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation Getty Images Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police are cordoning off places the people are known to have visited before falling ill EPA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok British police officers stand outside a residential property in Amesbury AP Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police Paul Mills makes a statement to the press outside The Bowman Centre after Wiltshire Police declared the situation a major incident Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury Baptist Centre PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury resident Sam Hobson, speaks to assembled press outside Amesbury Baptist Centre claiming to be a friend of the man and woman exposed to an unknown substance Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok The pair were found unconscious at an address in Muggleton Road, Amesbury Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police cordon at Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury. The town is around 10 miles from Salisbury where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in a suspected nerve agent attack PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police Paul Mills makes a statement Getty Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Police officers stand outside Boots pharmacy, near to the Barcroft Medical Centre in Amesbury PA Amesbury major incident after couple exposed to novichok Amesbury Baptist Centre PA

The hospital also successfully treated Mr Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter after they were poisoned with novichok smeared on his front door in March.

A government source said the poison could have been smuggled into the UK through an airport undetected. Police believe they have identified the suspected perpetrators, who are Russian and are likely to have left Britain using false identities. Sources told The Independent the potential culprits had been narrowed down to between two and four people, including a woman, who may be linked to the Russian GRU intelligence service – where Mr Skripal worked before turning for MI6.

The Russian government has denied involvement in either poisoning after the British government accused it of using the UK as a “dumping ground for poison”.

The Amesbury incident has once again raised diplomatic tensions, and the UK has been developing new defence plans with Romania that aim to counter Russian “aggression”. Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, announced that the British Army will support a Romanian training exercise later this year – known as Exercise Scorpions Fury – while a memorandum of understanding on future defence cooperation will also be developed. He cited the Salisbury incident among the factors driving the “deterrence to those who wish to do our nations harm” at a press conference on Thursday.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which verified the use of novichok in March, sent investigators back to Britain to collect fresh samples for testing. They are currently being analysed at designated international laboratories and the results are expected within weeks.