UK announces public inquiry into woman’s Novichok death

The British Home Office has announced that it is establishing a public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess, who died in 2018 after exposure to the Novichok nerve agent.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said in a statement: "We are establishing an inquiry to ensure that all relevant evidence can be considered, with the hope that the family of Dawn Sturgess will get the answers they need and deserve."

Sturgess poisoned by perfume bottle

Sturgess died after her partner Charlie Rowley gave her a bottle that contained Novichok nerve agent to her as a gift, believing it to be perfume, according to interviews he gave to the UK's ITV and the mass-circulation paper The Sun in 2018.

Rescuers found both of them unconscious on the day of the incident and transported them to the same Salisbury hospital where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia had been treated for an earlier case of Novichok poisoning.

Novichok was developed in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

London claims Russia was behind the attack on Skripal in March 2018. UK prosecutors have charged three Russians with attempting to kill Skripal and his daughter. Its alleged the three men were working for Russian intelligence and had traveled to the UK in order to target the Skripals. Moscow denies involvement.

UK Coroner requested public inquiry

In September, the coroner presiding over the inquest into Sturgess' death, Heather Hallett, formally requested that the probe be turned into a public inquiry in order to consider any role played by the Russian government. 

Lawyer Adam Straw who represents the Sturgess family said the "overriding concern is to ensure the truth of how Ms. Sturgess died is established."

Straw said that no family should have to wait five-and-a-half years to find out how someone died.

kb/rt (Reuters, AP)