Dawn Sturgess killed as Putin carried out 'deadly show of Russian power' on UK soil

A report into the death of mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess in Salisbury in July 2018 today found that Russian agents who attempted to assassinate a defector months earlier were “morally responsible” for her death.

The agents, part of Russia’s secretive military intelligence unit, the GRU, travelled to the UK to murder Sergei Skripal, a former spy living in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in March 2018.

The inquiry heard how they were carrying a designer Nina Ricci perfume bottle filled with Novichok – one of the deadliest nerve agents on the planet – which they sprayed on to the door handle of Mr Skripal’s front door.

Today, Dawn's father Stan Sturgess told reporters his family "can have Dawn back now", adding: "She's been public for seven years. We can finally put her to peace."

The family also added Dawn had been "vindicated" and criticised Wiltshire Police's "grave mistake" in characterising her as a "drug user".

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The poison left Mr Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, who was visiting him from Russia, fighting for their lives in hospital.

The Russian agents then fled the country after throwing away the bottle, which the inquiry found had enough poison to kill thousands of people.

It was later found by Charlie Rowley who took it back to his home in nearby Amesbury as a gift for his partner, Ms Sturgess, who unwittingly sprayed it on to her own skin.

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In his findings following the four-year-long inquiry, which cost £8.3 million in taxpayers’ money, the chair Lord Hughes wrote that the poison was so toxic that nothing could have been done to save the 44-year-old, who died days later at hospital, and was described by her family as a “loving” mother.

He concluded that the assassins had “no intention” to bring the poison back with them to Russia and acted with “no regard” for the potential deaths of “an unaccountable number of innocent people” when they threw it away.

Lord Hughes described the assassination attempt as “brazen” and “astonishingly reckless” – and held the suspects “morally responsible” for Ms Sturgess’ death, writing that they were acting under the direct orders of President Putin.

He described the attack in the context of an “increased risk appetite” by Russia after its annexation of Crimea and the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines flight over Ukraine by Russian-backed forces, which killed almost 300 people, in 2014.

The assassination attempt in Salisbury carried a “significant geopolitical risk”, Lord Hughes wrote, and was designed as a “public demonstration of Russian state power”.

Lawyers representing Ms Sturgess’ family at the inquiry previously accused the Government of failing to protect Mr Skripal, describing him and his daughter as “sitting ducks”.

But Lord Hughes concluded there was nothing which could have been done to prevent the attack, describing how it took British authorities by surprise.

The report comes amidst rising tensions with Russia, thought to be behind a wave of sabotage attacks and drone incursion across Europe, and just weeks after it emerged a Russian spy ship mapping our undersea cables had attempted to blind RAF pilots using lasers off the coast of Scotland.

And in the last week, Britain’s military chiefs have reportedly warned the Government that without urgent funding it will not be able to deliver on its commitment to increase defence readiness.

Last month, a cross-party group of MPs on the Defence Select Committee also published a damning report which found the UK would not be able to defend itself against an armed attack.

The Government rejected the conclusions of that report – and told LBC they were committed to the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.

Full family statement

Here is a statement read by Marcia Willis Stewart KC on behalf of Dawn Sturgess's family following the final report from the inquiry into her death:

"Our heartfelt aim throughout this long process has always been to do right by our daughter, mother and sister Dawn.

"In the immediate aftermath of her death, Wiltshire Police wrongly characterised Dawn as a drug user, and the public were wrongly led to believe that she had somehow contributed to her own death.

"As the evidence at the inquiry recognised, that was a grave mistake by Wiltshire Police that should never have happened.

"The police's incorrect assessment trumped that of the paramedics that there was a real possibility that Dawn had suffered from nerve agent poisoning. The chair has concluded that this error had the potential to put at risk other members of the public and emergency responders. We, and most importantly Dawn, have been vindicated today. "The inquiry has concluded, that Dawn was a wholly innocent victim, killed by Novichok, as the direct result of Russia's cruel and cynical attempt to assassinate Sergei Skripal.

"The inquiry's report concludes that there were failures by the UK Government in the management and assessment of the risk that Russia posed to Sergei Skripal. Skripal was described by Putin as a traitor and convicted of treason. Yet there were no sufficient and regular assessments of the risk he faced from Russian retaliation.

"As we have always believed, that put the British public at risk, and led to Dawn's death.

"The chair considered secret evidence from the Government and the UK intelligence services. Today's report does not set out, publicly, how the risks that led to Dawn's death will be prevented in the future.

"Adequate risk assessment of Skripal was not done, but no protective steps were put in place. That is a serious concern, for us now, and for the future.

"The inquiry's report finds that the public health response to the Salisbury attack was deficient. Important training to emergency responders should have been more widely circulated and should have referred to the important risk that symptoms of nerve agent poisoning would be missed.

"After Dawn was killed, the public were given clear advice: do not pick up items you have not dropped. We have always believed that that advice should have been issued after the Salisbury attack, before Dawn was killed.

"The inquiry has found that that crucial advice was not properly and adequately considered before Dawn died.

"Today's report has left us with some answers, but also a number of unanswered questions.

"We have always wanted to ensure that what happened to Dawn will not happen to others; that lessons should be learned; and that meaningful changes should made. The report today contains no recommendations.

"That is a matter of real concern. There should, there must, be reflection and real change.

"Today is the end of this public process. We remain devastated by Dawn's death. She is missed and always will be.

"The family will not be taking any questions. We ask that our privacy is respected."