On June 30, 2018, the mum-of-three sprayed what she’d believed to be a bottle of perfume on herself, not knowing that it contained enough Novichok “to kill thousands of people”. Now, an expert has warned that it could happen again” amidst frayed relations with Russia.
Around 10 to 15 minutes after spritzing the military grade nerve agent on herself, Dawn, from Wiltshire, began feeling “very, very strange” and told her boyfriend, Charlie Rowley, who had unwittingly gifted her the discarded Nina Ricci-labelled bottle, that “she had to go and lie in the bath”, the inquiry heard.
When concerned Charlie, who says he found the bottle in a Cancer Research charity shop bin in Amesbury, Wiltshire, went into the bathroom to check on Dawn, he found the 44-year-old “lying in the bath with her clothes on […] convulsing and foaming at the mouth”. Panicked, Charlie called 999, and Dawn was taken to Salisbury Hospital.
Tragically, Dawn died on July 8. Charlie, who had spilt some of the liquid on himself, had also fallen ill, but was discharged on July 20. He later went on to report how the poison had affected his memory, and left him plagued by “peculiar dreams”.
Dawn’s death closely followed the attempted murders of former spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and then-police officer Nick Bailey, who were all poisoned in Salisbury in March of that year. The Dawn Sturgess inquiry, which was led by Justice Lord Hughes of Ombersley, heard evidence regarding links between these harrowing incidents.
The UK security services blamed Russia for the attack, with the inquiry hearing how the Skripals had been allegedly targeted by Russian agents in a plot that would have been authorised by President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has strongly denied any involvement in these attacks.
An international arrest warrant was issued for three Russian men suspected of being involved in the attacks on British soil. However, as the Russian constitution doesn’t allow the extradition of its citizens, it’s unlikely these men will ever stand trial. In an interview with Russian state media, two of the suspects claimed they were only in the UK briefly, to visit Salisbury Cathedral.
The devastating death of Dawn continues to haunt the pretty county of Wiltshire, but could such a shocking tragedy ever be repeated? Professor Anthony Glees, an expert on European affairs from The University of Buckingham, believes it’s not out of the question.
Speaking exclusively with the Mirror, Professor Glees asserted: “The point I would make is that Putin is a killer. He has killed tens of thousands of people in his violent and demented attempt to create a new Russian empire, and tragic Dawn Sturgess, perhaps the first British woman to be killed by him, was just a hapless innocent victim of his secret chemical warfare programme. Our hearts go out to her loved ones. If it happened once, it could happen again. However, the circumstances in which it happened are fairly unique.”
Professor Glees continued: “What we expect to learn from the Highes Inquiry is that Dawn Sturgess was ‘collateral’, killed by Putin’s two GRU military intelligence officers who recklessly threw away the fake perfume bottle, in reality a deadly chemical weapon contained in its spray dispenser.
“‘Novichok’ (it means ‘newcomer’) was developed by the Russians under Putin’s orders as a particularly horrific means of ‘executing’ Russian intelligence officers who had bravely decided to turn against Putin and work with Western intelligence. It was a modern chemical version of the icepick used to kill the former Bolshevik Trotsky at Stalin’s orders in Mexico in 1941, intended to deter other traitors both by the horror of the killing and the ability of Russian intelligence to strike anywhere in the world at will.
“Skripal is unlikely to be the only Russian spook working with us, and because Putin doesn’t care if innocent people get killed, Dawn is unlikely to be the only collateral victim. That said, deadly agent Novichok is most unlikely to be used as a day-to-day weapon of war. It has a specific purpose to protect the integrity of Putin’s secret killers and will be reserved for similar attacks in the future.
“What’s more, we now know to look out for its use in similar cases, and the good news is that there’s a drug that can prevent it, causing death, Atropine, which is why the Skripals survived, if badly scarred. Dawn’s pointless killing in peaceful Salisbury serves to remind us of the sheer evil of Putin and his regime.”
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