A car has been seized by police in Swindon as the novichok poisoning investigation expands to a third area.

It was removed from a residential street in the Wiltshire town, with pictures on social media showing personnel in military fatigues and gas masks wrapping a white Audi in plastic film.

Swindon is around 40 miles from Salisbury, where Yulia and Sergei Skripal became the first novichok victims, and 33 miles from Amesbury where Dawn Sturgess fell ill after receiving what police described as a "high dose" of the nerve agent.

The mother of three died on Sunday night..

It is thought she and partner Charlie Rowley, who remains in a critical condition, handled a contaminated container - which police are desperate to find.


Image: Mother of three Dawn Sturgess died after being exposed to novichok

Image: Charlie Rowley is still in a critical condition

"We have arranged the transportation of a car from an address in Swindon this evening in relation to the on-going incident in Amesbury," said Wiltshire Police.

"The public should not be alarmed by this. Those involved have the training and expertise to safely remove the vehicle."

When asked if the vehicle was being taken to the government laboratory at Porton Down for testing, there was no immediate response.

Police say focus is to identify 'poison' container

Mr Rowley had been a passenger in a red Ford Transit van on the day he was poisoned and this has already been taken away for testing.

Three other men who were inside the van have also been tested but showed no signs of exposure.

A bus used by Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess the night before they got ill has also tested negative for novichok.

Police say it is their priority to find the container believed to have been handled by the pair.

How does novichok affect the body?

The public has been warned that they should not pick up "any strange items such as needles, syringes or unusual containers".

Detectives are investigating whether the Skripal poisonings and those of Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess are linked.

Defence secretary Gavin Williamson has blamed Russia for "an attack on British soil", saying it is "something that I think the world will unite with us in actually condemning".

Russian authorities have strongly denied the claims.