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The 2018 poisonings involving the nerve agent Novichok on British soil left a profound impact on many, particularly those tasked with understanding and managing the crisis. Among the victims were former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, whose poisoning led to the most extensive counter-terrorism investigation ever undertaken in the UK. Public health officials in Salisbury and Amesbury, Wiltshire, faced the challenging responsibility of safeguarding thousands from exposure to this lethal, undetectable chemical weapon.
Four months after the initial attack, Dawn Sturgess, a 44-year-old local resident, tragically lost her life after unknowingly spraying herself with a perfume bottle contaminated with Novichok. Her partner, Charlie Rowley, had discovered the bottle in a charity bin shortly before the fatal incident. Neil Basu, who was then head of UK counter-terrorism policing and responsible for overseeing the investigation, expressed deep personal anguish over the outcome. “You feel personally responsible for it, that’s the only way of putting it,” he admitted, reflecting the profound burden carried by those involved.
Basu described feeling as if not enough had been done to protect the public, though on reflection he acknowledged the authorities had exhausted their options short of shutting down the entire nation. “It never will be enough, and you feel incredibly sad,” he said, emphasizing the personal toll the case took on him, alongside the devastating grief experienced by Dawn Sturgess’ family and partner. Meanwhile, Tracy Daszkiewicz, Wiltshire’s head of public health during the crisis, highlighted the deeply personal nature of such tragedies, saying that despite reports labeling Sturgess as “only one person” who died, the loss was immeasurable. “That one is too many,” she stated, pointing to the human relationships behind the headlines.
Although criminal charges were authorized by the Crown Prosecution Service against three Russians suspected of orchestrating the attack—Anatoliy Chepiga, Alexander Mishkin, and a senior Russian agent, Denis Sergeev—they have never been brought to justice. Basu called the poisoning a state-sponsored assassination attempt, noting its unprecedented use of a chemical weapon on European soil since World War Two. Regretting the lack of legal consequences for those responsible, he described the case as a personal failure. “When you know who’s done something you want justice for the people they’ve harmed… Dawn’s family didn’t get justice,” he remarked somberly. Meanwhile, Daszkiewicz recalled her memories of Dawn Sturgess, highlighting the lasting sense of guilt felt by those involved in the public health response. She said, “I’ve talked with people about that feeling of guilt and I’m not the only one who’s used that phrase… In a way I’ve got comfortable with being uncomfortable with it.
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