Dawn Sturgess Inquiry: Police ignored paramedics in Amesbury

On Thursday, October 17, the inquiry entered its fourth day and emergency services were questioned on their response to poisonings in 2018. 

Dawn and Charlie were poisoned in June, a few months after the attempted murder of former spy Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia, and the poisoning of ex-police officer Nick Bailey.

Paramedics and ambulance staff who attended to Charlie after friend Sam Hobson called 999 after he began acting 'strangely' were concerned that he was suffering from nerve agent poisoning, but police officers believed it to be a drug overdose. 

Documents presented at the inquiry read: "At 19:13 hours, the Ambulance Service made further contact with the Communications Centre and stated that the patients were presenting with similar symptoms to the Salisbury Incident."

Read more: Sergei Skripal saved after correct drug was mistakenly administered

Police on Muggleton Road (Image: PA) According to the inquiry, FIM Inspector Andy Noble formed the opinion that this incident was most likely owing to drugs after the Ambulance Service requested that cordons be put in place and for a Police Commander to lead with a JESIP (Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles) response.

A JESIP exists to ensure that all blue light services are trained and exercised to work together as effectively as possible.

Inspector Noble noted the apparent nervousness of the other emergency services but remained of the opinion that this was drug-related and was to be treated as such.

Wiltshire Police formed the view that it was a drug overdose due to police intelligence that Charlie had been in possession, use and supply of drugs.

Wiltshire Police’s deputy chief constable Paul Mills, described the officers at the scene as 'overly confident'.

He added: "I don’t believe it was wrong for them to have a hypothesis based upon the recent intelligence they were aware of through the single lens of the police service 

“However, applying JESIP if we look back to the principles, the blue light huddle, they needed to communicate with their fellow first responders to understand what the other information and intelligence that was available.” 

Andrew O’Connor KC, counsel to the inquiry, said: "We also know, that as a result of that state of affairs, police officers from your force were instructed to, and did, go into that flat and undertake a search of it.

"As we know from the evidence we heard yesterday, that was a flat that not only contained a bottle of Novichok but had been contaminated in various areas by Novichok.

He continued: "In fact, what took place was something just as dangerous, if not more dangerous than the search of Christie Miller Road four months earlier. Except on that occasion, the police officers had been warned it had been a nerve-agent-scene but went ahead anyway.”  

Mr O’Connor also said paramedics who were treating Dawn Sturgess were told by Charlie that she did not take drugs, which was inconsistent with the views they were forming.