Judges have been asked to rule that a coroner’s decision to limit the scope of an inquest into the death of a Salisbury woman poisoned by Novichok was wrong.

Dawn Sturgess’s daughter has taken legal action after David Ridley, the senior coroner for Wiltshire, put limits on what would be investigated at an inquest.

She says the decision is flawed.

Two judges began considering the case at a virtual High Court hearing on Tuesday and heard that Ms Sturgess had died in hospital in Salisbury, Wiltshire, during the summer of 2018.

Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Lewis said Ms Sturgess’s daughter was a child who could not be fully named in media reports of the case.

They said an adult relative was acting as her “litigation friend”.

Lawyers representing Ms Sturgess’s daughter told judges that Mr Ridley had opened an inquest.

But they said he had decided that he would not consider whether any Russian state agents, other than two named suspects, were responsible for Ms Sturgess’s death, or issues relating to the source of the Novichok.

They said that meant the inquest would not investigate “credible allegations” that other Russian state agents were involved or “key questions” about how “the operation” was arranged.

The hearing is due to end on Wednesday.