Detectives are keen to hear from anyone who saw perfume bottle containing novichok

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Police investigating the Salisbury nerve agent poisonings have made a fresh appeal for information, as the government announced the decontamination of 12 sites cordoned off after the attack has been completed almost a year on.

Detectives are keen to hear from anyone who saw a perfume bottle that contained the nerve agent novichok, and said that someone may have a key piece of information about it that could help bring those responsible to justice.

The former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, collapsed after coming into contact with novichok at his home in Salisbury on 4 March last year. They recovered but in July Dawn Sturgess, a mother of three, died when she was exposed to novichok contained in a fake perfume bottle.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The perfume bottle and applicator recovered by police. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA

On Friday, counter-terrorism officers said they were still trying to find out where the perfume bottle was between the attack in March and the end of June when Sturgess’s partner, Charlie Rowley, found it.

Deputy assistant commissioner Dean Haydon, the senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing, said: “A year on from the attacks, there are parts of the picture that we are continuing to piece together, and I am urging anyone who has information that they have not yet passed to police to do so.

“The information you have could be crucial to securing the prosecution of those responsible.”

The British government has identified two suspects as officers from Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU.

Haydon said: “In particular, we are keen to hear from anyone who may have seen the counterfeit ‘Nina Ricci’ perfume box or bottle that was recovered from Charlie Rowley’s address in July.

“We cannot account for the whereabouts of the bottle, nozzle or box between the attack on the Skripals on 4 March and when Charlie Rowley said he found it on Wednesday, 27 June.

“Did you see this pink box or glass bottle during that time? Do you have any information about where it might have been discarded?”

Government officials said on Friday that the last of the 12 sites that have been undergoing an intense and hazardous clean-up – Skripal’s house – has been judged safe.

The house, where the novichok attack is believed to have taken place, has been returned to Wiltshire council and residents are understood to want it restored and used again by a family.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Military personnel work on the roof of the Skripal house. Photograph: MoD

Alistair Cunningham, the chair of the South Wiltshire recovery coordinating group, said: “It is good news that the site at Christie Miller Road has been handed back.

“This is a significant moment as this property is the final site to be completed as part of the complex and extensive clean-up operation. South Wiltshire can look to the future now the short-term recovery work has been completed.”

Over the past 11 months, hundreds of military personnel from the RAF and army, supported by specialist contractors, have undertaken decontamination work on the 12 sites in Salisbury and nearby Amesbury where Sturgess fell ill.

The counterfeit Nina Ricci packaging recovered from Charlie Rowley’s address. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA

The approach to the work at the sites has been to test and remove potentially contaminated items, chemically clean and retest.

Before its release back to public use, every site has been subject to a thorough assessment by the government’s decontamination science assurance group to ensure there is no foreseeable ongoing risk of exposure.

Military teams spent 13,000 hours on the clean-up after Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned with the nerve agent on 4 March 2018, taking 5,000 test samples.

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Along with the Skripal house, the sites include the park bench where the former spy and his daughter were found collapsed, the Zizzi restaurant where they had dined beforehand, and the home of DS Nick Bailey, who was exposed to the agent.

Lt Gen Ty Urch, who oversaw military involvement in the clean-up, said: “Novichok is probably one of the most dangerous and most challenging chemicals in existence today and you don’t need very much of it and it’s highly spreadable.”

An estimated 600-800 specially trained military personnel, including the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear regiment, were involved in the clean-up, named Operation Morlop.

About 190 people worked at any one time and there were 250 “deliberate operations” to cross into and decontaminate danger areas.

Neighbours are keen that an “ordinary” family move in and are concerned at the idea that the house could become some sort of tourist attraction.