Boy fell ill after Salisbury poisoning victim Sergei Skripal gave him bread to feed ducks

A boy fell ill after Salisbury poisoning victim Sergei Skripal gave him bread to feed ducks, an inquiry has heard.

The young boy, who has not been named, and two others he was with, got sick after the former Russian spy handed him the bread in Salisbury city centre on 4 March 2018, the public inquiry was told.

After Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia collapsed on a bench nearby shortly afterwards and the incident unfolded, the boy and his friends were traced by public health authorities.

They said they were unwell for a day or two afterwards but no traces of novichok were found in their systems.

The new details came to light on Monday at the inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess, who died after handling a perfume bottle containing the Russian nerve agent in nearby Amesbury in July 2018.

The Skripals and responding police officer Nick Bailey fell gravely ill after coming into contact with the novichok months earlier in March.

All three survived, along with Ms Sturgess’s boyfriend Charlie Rowley, who had unwittingly given her the perfume bottle.

British authorities blame the Russian state for the Salisbury poisonings.

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The public inquiry, which is being chaired by former Supreme Court judge Lord Hughes of Ombersley, is now hearing evidence at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London – after opening at the Salisbury Guildhall earlier this month.

On Monday, the inquiry heard how a timeline of events given by Mr Skripal’s neighbours Ross and Maureen Cassidy helped police uncover when the Skripals’ home was likely contaminated with the deadly substance.

Skripal said Putin would ‘get him’

Mr Cassidy quickly became friends with Mr Skripal after he moved to Salisbury in 2010, he said in evidence.

His revealed that, during their friendship, Mr Skripal had told him President Vladimir Putin would “get him” if he returned to his home country.

The Cassidys had driven Mr Skripal to Heathrow Airport on 3 March, the day before he was poisoned, to pick up his daughter.

During the trip, he believed he was followed.

On the return journey on the M3, he said he saw what he thought was a black BMW undercover police car apparently tailing him for about 10 minutes.

After passing what he believed was a white unmarked police car and slowing down, he then noticed the black BMW keeping pace, either in front or behind him, “for a really long distance”, he said.

He told the inquiry: “Because of what happened the following day, I put two and two together and came up with some conclusion that we were probably being followed.”

The inquiry heard, however, that police later identified the two vehicles and it was determined they were engaged in “entirely unconnected” police activities at the time.

When Mr and Mrs Cassidy dropped the Skripals at their home later, Mrs Cassidy went into the house. She said she couldn’t remember using the door handle but later tested negative for novichok.

Commander Dominic Murphy, of the Met Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said it meant that the novichok was “likely to have been applied to that door” between “6pm on the Saturday (3 March) and 1.30pm on the Sunday (4 March), when (the Skripals) then left”.

On 4 March, the Skripals were seen on CCTV driving into Salisbury city centre, handing the boy some bread to feed the ducks by a pond, then having a drink in The Mill pub, before going for a meal at Zizzi.

They left the restaurant after starting to feel unwell and were later discovered collapsed on a park bench.

On Tuesday, a former chief nurse for the British Army told the inquiry how she ended up rushing to the Skripals’ aid.

Alison McCourt described Russian claims she was partially responsible for the poisonings as “malicious”, adding she was only in Salisbury because her children had convinced her to stop at Nando’s.

“I had no prior knowledge of the individuals on the bench – I had never seen them before in my life, nor did I know who they were,” she said.

“In fact, having seen the couple on the bench, my initial instinct had in fact been not to get involved as it looked to me as if they were under the influence of drugs. It was only the chiding of my daughter that made me think I ought to go to their aid.

“It goes without saying that I had no idea a nerve agent, nor any other poison, had been the cause of the couple’s presentation.

“Given my training, had I known that a nerve agent had been used, I would not have exposed myself to any potential risk of personal harm. I had no equipment, medicine, nor PPE with me.”

The inquiry continues.