Russian spy nerve agent poisoning: Salisbury cleaned up by chemical warfare experts

Military personnel in protective clothing remove vehicles from a car park in Salisbury
EPA

Military personnel were continuing to remove items from the centre of Salisbury today in a clean-up operation following the poisoning of former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal.

Experts in chemical warfare and decontamination were attempting to identify the trail of poison inadvertently left by the couple as they travelled around the city before collapsing last Sunday.

Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia remain critically ill in hospital, eight days after they were found unconscious on a bench.

Over the weekend the focus of the investigation shifted back to the city centre and the Zizzi restaurant where the Skripals ate before they suddenly became ill.

Investigators in protective gear pursue the probe into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal
Getty

A table and chairs in the restaurant, where they ate a seafood risotto, is said to have been so seriously contaminated that they had to be destroyed.

Detectives are interviewing everyone who dined and worked at Zizzi’s last Sunday in an effort to identify anything or anyone suspicious.

Investigation: Military personnel in protective clothing in Salisbury as the PM calls a meeting of the National Security Council
EPA

Investigators in hazmat suits also bagged up items inside The Mill pub where the couple had a drink after their meal.

The process has been slowed by the time it is taking to test and make safe all the exhibits seized during the investigation.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey is in a serious but stable condition in Salisbury District Hospital, where he is said to be conscious and talking.

Police cordon: Military personnel in Salisbury
PA

In another development British football fans travelling to Russia for the World Cup may be at risk of tit-tor-tat retaliation if tensions escalate between London and Moscow, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee warned today.

Traces of the nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found at Zizzi in Salisbury
PA

Tom Tugendhat said the attack is “looking awfully like it was state-sponsored attempted murder.”

He said: “We do need to be very, very careful for British fans who are travelling there that they are not in any way caught up in the politics of this.

On Sunday, hundreds of diners and pub-goers were urged to wash clothes and other items a week after potentially coming into contact with the nerve agent.

Military trucks in Salisbury
Getty Images

The action prompted anger among locals over delays in issuing information on the hazards to the public.

However, Conservative Matthew Dean, leader of Salisbury City Council, said today that it had been “business as usual” in the city at the weekend, adding that given the advice had been given “quickly enough.”

Wiltshire Police told residents “not to be alarmed” as counter-terror police were helped by Armed forces, including Royal Marines, in the clean-up operation.

Experts and investigators remained at the key sites with two fire and rescue lorries being seen entering the police cordon leading to Mr Skripal’s semi-detached house.

England’s chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies said she believed up to 500 people would have been in either of the two venues between the Sunday lunchtime and Monday night.

However, it is still not clear how or where the Skripals were poisoned. Traces of the nerve agent have been found at both the restaurant and pub but the neighbours of the Skripas have not been issued with any specific warnings about their health. Staff at Zizzi’s have reportedly been told that the pair were poisoned at home.

Uniforms of staff who worked at the restaurant were burned before a contamination warning was issued to customers.

Scotland Yard were unable to comment on the fate of a cat and two guinea pigs which friends said Mr Skripal kept as pets.

Philip Ingram, a former intelligence and security officer who has studied chemical warfare, said all the signs of the attack pointed to a liquid nerve agent similar to one used in the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half brother last year.

He told the Telegraph: “The fact that traces have been found at multiple locations suggest that this is almost certainly a thickened liquid that would have a persistent effect. It could have been administered in a variety of ways, either by brushing into the target or perhaps by smearing it on clothing that would come into contact with his skin.”

However, he added there were still unanswered questions such as how did the police officer become so ill.

“And, I’m afraid the danger of Russia responding to British fans for actions taken by their government is all too real.”

Mr Skripal, a retired Russian military intelligence officer, was convicted by the Russian government of passing secrets to MI6 in 2004, but given refuge in the UK in 2010 as part of a “spy swap”.

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