Novichok victim's emotional first words after regaining consciousness

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Charlie survived the attack (Image: Getty)
Charlie survived the attack (Image: Getty)

Novichok victim Charlie Rowley cried out about the death of ­girlfriend Dawn Sturgess when he regained consciousness, his brother emotionally revealed.

Former Russian agent Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and a police officer, Nick Bailey, were exposed to the substance in 2018, six years ago today in Salisbury

Charlie's girlfriend Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after being exposed to the nerve agent A234, a military-grade nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union in the Cold War, from a discarded perfume bottle that Charlie had found. The perfume container had been used to put the nerve agent onto Mr Skripal's front door handle.

Novichok victim's emotional first words after regaining consciousness qhidqkiqzriexinvDawn Sturgess (AFP/Getty Images)

Sergei, Yulia and Mr Bailey survived, as did Ms Sturgess’s boyfriend, Charlie, who gifted Dawn the perfume bottle after finding it in a bin. His home was eight miles away from Salisbury, where the former Soviet spy and Yulia were found slumped on a bench.

Matthew Rowley previously told the Mirror six years ago how he visited the then 45-year-old in hospital after he came round and said he barely recognised him.

He added: "I wiggled his toes and said to him, ‘Are you OK, Charles?’ He was semi-woken and said, ‘They killed my girlfriend, they killed my ­girlfriend.’ He was very angry and crying.

"I could hardly recognise him, I nearly cried. He’s skin and bones as he obviously hadn’t been able to eat.”

Novichok victim's emotional first words after regaining consciousnessCharlie Rowley (Reach Commissioned)
Novichok victim's emotional first words after regaining consciousnessMilitary personnel removing items from the home of Sergei Skripal (Daily Mirror)

Matthew visited Charlie a day after he came around, and recounted at the time: "He said he’s feeling horrible. His speech was still a little slurred, but he sounded as OK as he can be and he’s ­compos mentis. He still had no idea what poisoned him and Dawn, but the nurses are fantastic.”

Following the horror attack, 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.

A public inquiry into the death of Novichok victim Dawn Sturgess will start in October.

Russia has always denied that the Kremlin was involved.

Patrick Hill

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