Wiltshire Police apologise after Novichok mistaken for drug overdose

Deputy chief constable Paul Mills, of Wiltshire Police, apologised to the inquiry as there was no police intelligence to show Ms Sturgess used drugs. 

At the Dawn Sturgess Public Inquiry, on Tuesday, October 15, DCC Paul Mills of Wiltshire Police talked about the timeline of events in the early days of the second poisoning.

Alongside Wiltshire Police were the counter-terrorism police, the strategic coordination group, Wiltshire Council, DEFRA, Public Health England, STAC, SAGE and COBRA.

It was revealed at the Inquiry that police were made aware of the incident hours after ambulance and fire services had attended the scene. 

Police were first alerted on the evening after Dawn and Charlie were poisoned, despite it being a 'hazmat' incident. At this stage, it was unknown that the pair had been exposed to Novichok, but they were taken to hospital as a result of their symptoms.

READ MORE: LIVE: Dawn Sturgess Public Inquiry hears from family and police at Guildhall

On June 30, 2018, at 6.58pm, the police control room received a call from the fire service. They were told that there was a potential hazmat incident that the ambulance service was attending at 9 Muggleton Road (Charlie Rowley's address). 

‘It was confirmed within this call that at this point this was for information purposes only', Mr Mills added.

At 7.02pm, the police received a call at the communications centre from South West Ambulance Service, and were querying whether or not Wiltshire Police were aware of what they described as a 'special job'.

During the call, they said they attended an incident at the address and the casualties were showing symptoms including respiratory arrest and severe breathing problems.

Police were first notified of an incident at 6.58pm (Image: NQ) 'They then updated us to say they had been taken to Salisbury District Hospital', Mr Mills continued, 'and had symptoms like excessive drooling, sweating and stating one person was unresponsive and 'making weird noises'.

'Then ultimately the substance service state that there is a 'significant response' for the ambulance service and fire service.'

Both calls, four minutes apart, refer to a female earlier in the day and a male later in the day - now known to be Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley respectively.

Police arrived on the scene at 7.19pm.

READ MORE: Mother of Dawn Sturgess gives tribute at public inquiry

On Monday, July 2, Mills was on call as chief officer. The superintendent contacted him and told him that an incident had occurred over the weekend and two people were in hospital 'seriously unwell' and the indicated hypothesis was that it was a drug overdose - potential pesticide poisoning.

Samples of their urine were sent to DSTL, and Mr Mills recollected: 'At that point I was aware this was a precautionary and we were awaiting the results and at the conclusion of the conversation I was asked to be updated.'

On Tuesday, July 3, at 7pm, Mr Mills was contacted by a man called 'Tim' from DSTL, who said that testing had come back showing Novichok - he was 75 per cent sure it was Novichok and said 'it was moving towards 100 per cent clarity'."

Mr Mills made a strategic coordination group meeting that evening at 10.27pm, where he declared a second major incident, following the Skripal poisonings four months before.

The deputy chief constable apologised to the Inquiry after the police force described Ms Sturgess as a 'known drug user'. 

He said: "There were reasons to believe she had become unwell due to her association with drugs but notwithstanding that there was no police intelligence that she was a drug user and in relation to that I would like to, on behalf of the chief constable and Wiltshire Police, apologise for that internal error to the family.

"I can only try and understand that impact further on their loss."