Police Sergeant Nick Bailey has been named as the officer who was injured with a nerve agent as he attended the scene where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned.

He was hospitalised after attending to the pair and is now thought to be awake and engaging with medical staff, although he remains in a serious condition.

Sgt Bailey was highly commended in 2016 for his work in putting a serial rapist behind bars.

He worked tirelessly for two years in order to build a case against Arthur Bonner, who sexually assaulted multiple victims over four decades between the early 1970s and 2014.

Sgt Bailey received the Chief Constable’s Certificate of Excellence for his work at the time.

Kier Pritchard, temporary chief constable of Wiltshire Police, said: "I did go and see Nick today and I met Nick and his wife at the hospital in the intensive care unit.

"I've known Nick for many years, he's a great character, he's a huge presence in Wiltshire Police - well liked, well loved, a massively dedicated officer. He's clearly receiving high specialist treatment.

"He's well, he's sat up. He is not the Nick that I know but of course he's receiving a high level of treatment. He's in the safe hands of the medical professionals working in Salisbury District so I'm very confident he's getting the best professional support that he can.