More details about Dawn Sturgess’ 2018 death are coming to light.
During a public inquiry into Sturgess’ mysterious death, lawyer Andrew O’Connor claimed that the vial the British woman unwittingly sprayed herself with contained enough of the nerve agent Novichok to kill thousands of people, multiple outlets reported.
Sturgess’ death came four months after Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy who was a double agent for the U.K., and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were targeted with the same nerve agent in Salisbury. They survived the attack and now live under protection.
Given the Skripal incident, O’Connor alleged that the 44-year-old woman’s death came after she, “an innocent victim,” found herself “in the crossfire of an illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt.”
What to Know About Dawn Sturgess’ Poisoning
U.K. officials believe that, after the Skripal attack, those behind the incident threw away a perfume vial containing the nerve agent, which created “the obvious risk that someone would find it and take it home,” O’Connor said.
That vial is what Sturgess and her partner, Charlie Rowley, found while out in Amesbury. Sturgess sprayed the perfume on her wrist, “entirely unaware of the mortal danger she faced because the highly toxic liquid had been concealed,” O’Connor said, per Sky News.
The outlet reported that Sturgess felt “peculiar” after spraying the nerve agent on herself, and was later found “convulsing and drooling at the mouth.” She never regained consciousness.
U.K. officials have blamed the Skripal attack and Sturgess’ death on Russian intelligence. Specifically, they suspected two Russian agents who allegedly entered the country with fake passports, CBS News reported. Vladimir Putin has denied involvement in the Novichok incidents, as have the suspected men.
However, in a witness statement submitted as part of the inquiry, Skripal said he believed that Putin “must have at least given permission for the attack” against him and his daughter, the Associated Press reported.
What the Public Inquiry Seeks to Uncover
According to the AP, Michael Mansfield, the attorney representing Sturgess’ family, said he wants to find out if U.K. authorities knew Skripal’s presence in the community posed a threat.
“If the attack could and should have been prevented by the U.K. authorities, Dawn’s family and partner are entitled to know—so are the wider public,” he said. “Was there a failure to prevent a chemical weapons attack on UK soil? Were countless members of the public put at risk, with the potential for hundreds or even thousands of deaths?”
Moreover, O’Connor said that he hopes to discover “whether any of the things that may have gone wrong in Dawn’s treatment could have made a difference to her chances of survival,” per Sky News.
The purpose of the public inquiry, which is expected to last until December, is to establish the circumstances of Sturgess’ death, discover who was to blame for it, and note what lessons can be learned as a result, the outlet reported.
The post Woman Died After Unknowingly Spraying Herself With Nerve Agent Potent Enough to Kill Thousands appeared first on VICE.
The post Woman Died After Unknowingly Spraying Herself With Nerve Agent Potent Enough to Kill Thousands appeared first on VICE.
