It's no exaggeration to say the circumstances of Dawn Sturgess's death were extraordinary,
When Ms Sturgess was poisoned by Novichok four months after the Skripal poisoning, the real possibility emerged that she had been caught — an innocent victim — in the crossfire of an illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt,
That he ordered the attack is my private opinion, based on my years of experience and my analysis of the continuous degradation of Russia, ... I do not have concrete evidence to support this."
You may conclude that those who discarded the bottle in this way acted with a grotesque disregard for human life.”
In light of the required seniority under Russian law to approve assassinations of suspected terrorists outside Russia, and that this incident concerned a politically sensitive target (Mr Skripal was a UK citizen, and was targeted on UK soil), it is HMG’s view that President Putin authorised the operation.”
I believe Putin makes all important decisions himself. I therefore think he must have at least given permission for the attack.”
We are not optimistic that we will arrive at a single convincing explanation.”
I did not have a house security alarm or sensor activated security lights and I do not remember either of these being raised with me. CCTV was recommended but I declined this because I did not want to make my house conspicuous or live under surveillance.”
The purpose is to provide Dawn's family, friends and our wider communities in Wiltshire the opportunity to access the fullest possible information surrounding Dawn's death,
I never thought the Russian regime would try to murder me in Great Britain
The evidence will suggest that this bottle, which we shall hear contained enough poison to kill 1,000s of people, must earlier have been left somewhere a public place, creating obvious risk that someone would find it
Ms Sturgess lived a life that was fully removed from the worlds of politics and international issues.
I am satisfied that there would be real danger of identification.
I would hope by the end of it the family and friends of Dawn Sturgess feel it has got to the truth.