Horror moment Novichok victim woke from coma to be told his girlfriend is dead
Novichok victim Charlie Rowley awoke from his coma to be told his girlfriend and mum-of-three Dawn Sturgess was dead, his brother has revealed.
Charlie's older brother, Matthew Rowley visited him in Salisbury District Hospital after the horror incident six years ago, and was shocked to see how 'weak and skeletal' Charlie is after fighting off the Novichok poison.
Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury in Wiltshire in 2018, six years ago today.
Police officer Nick Bailey along with two members of the public, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, were also poisoned. Dawn later died after being exposed to the nerve agent Novichok, which had been left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018.
Charlie, 49, woke from a coma after 10 days in intensive care impressing medics with the speed of his recovery, although he suffered multiple strokes and nerve damage.
House where retired Russian spy was poisoned with Novichok is sold
He had found the discarded perfume bottle containing the Novichok and gave it to Ms Sturgess.
The Metropolitan Police identified three suspects wanted in connection with the poisonings: Denis Sergeev, Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga, who used the aliases Sergey Fedotov, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov respectively while in the UK.
Charlie Rowley from Warminster who, along with Dawn Sturgess, was inadvertently poisoned with a nerve agent in Salisbury (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)Charges have been authorised against all three suspects.
Police believe they are in Russia, but there is little chance of them being brought to the UK to face justice because there is no extradition treaty between the two nations
At the time, Matthew said: "It was quite shocking. He's not the Charles I know."
“I've never seen so many machines. There must have been six machines and he had a hell of a lot of tubes coming out of him. He's still in intensive care.
“The nurse said he will be here for some time but because he's talking he's getting better, it's a good sign. He's still on critical but stable.
“I hardly recognised him to tell the truth. He will get better. That's through not eating.
“He's on solid food. He couldn't lift his head off the pillow. We managed to have a little laugh with the nurses.
“The nurses say he's getting stronger.”
Man who lost partner and home in Salisbury poisonings plans to sue Russia
Dawn sadly died (Reach Commissioned)But Matthew said he had a nice chat with his brother and revealed his grief at losing Dawn and his fears for the future.
Matthew said: “He had his life with his girlfriend. I didn't want to upset him He was a bit tearful. I didn't want to upset him.
“I changed the subject. He knows why he's in there. He's asked the police to contact Dawn's family.
“We had a good chat. We talked about his house.
Charlie made an incredible recovery (Reach Commissioned)“At the moment I think he's just living by the hour. It was upsetting. Just seeing him in that condition.
"The whole hospital is fantastic. They had to dress me up in protective clothing and gloves. It's the nature of what's happened.”
But Matthew also revealed that Charlie is trying to keep his spirits up in spite of what happened to him and losing Dawn.
He said: “He's got a TV. He's watched himself on the news.
“He just laughed and said: 'I'm famous now.' He's got a sense of humour.
“He was a bit slurry but he was trying his best. I would imagine he's on an awful lot of drugs.
"It was very upsetting. He smiled as soon as I came in.
“I wiggled his toes a bit to make sure he was alive. I couldn't get too close because of all the machines.
“I gave him a DVD player and some films and some pocket money.
“He's a very nice guy, very friendly, he'd do anything for you. He's always had girlfriends.
“It's awful, it's difficult to believe this has happened anywhere in the world let alone Salisbury or Amesbury. It's the sort of thing you see in James Bond films.”
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