For residents of John Baker House, the homeless hostel in Salisbury that had been Dawn Sturgess’s home for nearly two years, the news of her death from novichok poisoning had come as a terrible shock. Her next-door neighbour was close to tears when he spoke about her.

“I’ve been hiding, I’ve been so upset,” he said. “It happens to the wrong ones. We were both going to the next stage of getting out of there, she was about to get a flat, that was the next goal.



“It’s awful for her kids,” said the man, who asked not to be named. “She was brilliant. She looked after me, she was like a second mum. We’re all going to miss her.”

Sturgess’s death and the illness of her partner Charlie Rowley may have received less attention nationally than the first round of novichok poisonings, but the members of the community around them are used to not making headline news.

They are part of a group that is familiar but ignored in town centres across the country: people living in hostels and shelters, and sometimes on the street, often struggling with addiction and trying to get their lives back on track.

Since the poisoning, hostel residents have been one of the main sources of information about the couple.

The neighbour said he had concerns about the impact of the media attention on some of the more vulnerable residents, and he had seen some journalists paying for their stories. “Some of them [the residents] are addicts,” he said. “They [journalists] should be more responsible.”

Sitting with the man on a bench in Salisbury’s Market Square were Ian Hobbs, a resident of another hostel in Salisbury, and a woman in her 70s who had lived in the city all her life. The woman said she felt the city had “gone to pieces and gets worse by the year”, and blamed it on a rise in drug misuse. Both men agreed.

Like other rural towns and cities, Salisbury has been trying to get to grips with a drug issue. Late last year 16 people were sentenced for drug offences in the city. “Drugs are in the mainstream now, and kids starting smoking weed are getting younger and younger,” Hobbs said.

Karen Tyrell, from the drug and alcohol charity Addaction, said: “Drug issues are definitely not confined to cities and seaside towns. Rural areas can experience significant problems too. County lines [where dealers from cities extend their business into new areas] is a big problem for many rural towns, often bringing higher-strength drugs to an area.

“The other thing that’s really shifted is online sales of drugs. The dark web and social media have really changed the drugs market. It’s a lot easier now.”

Wiltshire council has been working to tackle drug and alcohol misuse in the city and there is support in place for many of those affected. After John Baker House was evacuated following the poisoning, the council was able to rehouse residents quickly.

The conversation on the bench turned to Rowley, who is still in critical condition in Salisbury district hospital. Along with Sturgess, he had been getting his life on track and there was concern about how he would cope without her.

“They were a good couple,” the neighbour said. “Charlie’s going to be torn to pieces. Dawn looked after everyone, God bless her heart.”