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.
Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Pic: Shutterstock
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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.
Dawn Sturgess. Pic: PA
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.
Sergei and Yulia Skripal on CCTV from 4 March 2018. Pic: The Dawn Sturgess Inquiry/PA
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.
UK
Post Office scandal: At least 8 convictions may be linked to second IT system used by Post Office
At least eight convictions predating the Horizon Post Office scandal are being looked at by the body investigating potential miscarriages of justice, Sky News has learned.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has confirmed it is examining multiple cases of former sub-postmasters affected by Capture software.
The computer accounting system was used in the early 1990s, prior to Horizon being introduced to Post Office branches from 1999 onwards.
Horizon was at the centre of the Post Office scandal and saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of stealing from their branches.
The Kroll report, commissioned by the government earlier this year, found that Capture had bugs and glitches and there was a reasonable likelihood it had caused cash shortfalls too.
Lord Beamish, the former Labour MP Kevan Jones, has been supporting victims and is calling for the government to extend current legislation to automatically quash convictions.
The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act was passed in May but does not include Capture victims.
Lord Beamish told Sky News he has raised the issue with the Justice Secretary and called for a House of Lords debate.
“The government are going to have to take this seriously,” he said. “We can’t have a situation where we have a two-tier system where people get exonerated from Horizon and the Capture cases are either forgotten or have to go through a very lengthy legal process to get their names cleared.”
Chris claims his mother was wrongly jailed because of accounting problems with the Post Office software Capture
He added he had “little faith” in the CCRC’s “ability to deal with cases”, after multiple Horizon cases were referred to the body years ago.
“The problem with these cases is the lack of evidence… that has been destroyed or lost so actually proving some of these cases through that process will be very difficult.
“Therefore I think a blanket exoneration like we had with Horizon I think has got to be discussed and considered for these cases.”
The CCRC told Sky News it has five cases under review “in which the Capture IT system could be a factor”.
It also said it is “seeking further information” on eight cases referenced in the Kroll report.
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The CCRC added that the time taken for a case review to be completed was dependent on the “complexity” of each case “and how readily available information about it is”. In a statement, it admitted: “The availability of information can be a particular hurdle in older cases.”
Chris’s mother died earlier this year following a battle with Alzheimer’s and never got to clear her name
Chris Roberts’ mother, Liz Roberts, was convicted in 1999 of stealing £46,000 from the Post Office and spent 13 months behind bars.
Liz, who was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, passed away earlier this year.
Chris said she was jailed four days before he turned 17, and he used to have “nightmares” that she was “going to die in there”.
“There was no evidence of any financial gain because they went through everything. And obviously the money wasn’t in our accounts because it didn’t exist,” he added.
Despite being offered “three deals” by the Post Office to plead guilty, Liz refused and was sent to prison.
Liz Roberts during happier times before she was jailed for theft – her son insists she was innocent
Chris believes that the 2019 High Court win by Horizon victims was a missed opportunity for the Post Office to look back at Capture cases.
“It would have been worth something then because my mum would have died knowing that everybody else knew she was innocent,” he said.
“My dad would have died knowing that the love of his life wasn’t vilified as a criminal.”
Chris wants his mother exonerated and “those actively responsible” to “stand up in court… and justify themselves”.
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Sky’s Adele Robinson examines Britain’s biggest miscarriages of justice
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “We were horrified to learn about the issues with the Capture system and are working closely across government to thoroughly examine Kroll’s independent report and consider what action should be taken.
“We continue to listen to postmasters and others who have been sharing their views on the report’s findings since its publication last month.”
Official accounts have revealed for the first time how much the King’s 2023 coronation cost UK taxpayers.
According to the accounts, the government spent £72m on the coronation – the first in Britain since Queen Elizabeth II’s in 1953.
The figure includes £50.3m of costs attributed to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which coordinated the coronation, and £21.7m in costs for the Home Office for the policing of the event.
By comparison, Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and events during the period of national mourning cost the government an estimated £162m – £74m for the Home Office and £57m for the DCMS as well as costs to the devolved governments.
The figures come from the culture department’s recently released annual report and accounts.
The department said it had “successfully delivered on the central weekend of His Majesty King Charles III’s Coronation, enjoyed by many millions both in the UK and across the globe”.
People walk past a souvenir shop during the coronation. Pic: Reuters
It described the event as a “once-in-a-generation moment” which provided an occasion for the “entire country to come together in celebration”.
Both the King and Queen were crowned at Westminster Abbey in May last year, in a ceremony attended by dignitaries from around the world.
A star-studded concert at Windsor Castle, featuring Take That and stars such as Olly Murs, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, took place the following night.
It had been described ahead of the event as being a “slimmed-down affair” – with the country still in the grips of the cost-of-living crisis – and accounts show an “underspend” related to the coronation of around £2.8m.
Olly Murs performing at the Coronation Concert. Pic: Reuters
Did coronation boost the economy?
Despite talk of a coronation boost, the UK’s economy actually contracted in the month of May 2023.
However, experts said that was mostly due to the cost of the additional public holiday for the event, which weighed on output.
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Each bank holiday costs the UK economy around £2.3bn, with the extra bank holiday for the late Queen’s funeral estimated to have cost around £2.4bn, according to government figures.
With the extra coronation bank holiday, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed negative growth of 0.1% during May 2023.
However, that was slightly better than economists had predicted ahead of the event.
Prior to the event, economic forecasters, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), had predicted a boost of £337m for the UK’s economy due to the coronation – including £104m in extra pub spending and an estimated £223m spend from tourism to the UK during the period.
Hotel revenue was also said to be up by 54% compared to the same point in the previous year, while bookings for UK-bound flights for the coronation weekend jumped by 149% within 24 hours of the day being announced, according to TravelPort.
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