Inquiry into British woman's 2018 Novichok poisoning to start

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - A public inquiry into the death of a woman who Britain says was unwittingly killed by the Novichok nerve agent following the attempted murder of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal six years ago will begin on Monday.

Dawn Sturgess died from exposure to Novichok in July 2018 after her partner found a counterfeit perfume bottle which police believe had been used by Russian intelligence operatives to smuggle the poison into the country.

Skripal, who sold Russian secrets to Britain, and his daughter Yulia had been found slumped unconscious on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury four months earlier. 

Both they, and a police officer who went to Skripal's house, were left critically ill from the effects of the military-grade nerve agent, but recovered.

On Monday, an inquiry into Sturgess's death finally opens, with hearings held initially in Salisbury. Its aim is to provide her family with answers to how her death came about, and it will hear some confidential evidence in secret from the government and the security services.

While British police have charged in absentia three Russians, who they say are GRU military intelligence officers, over the attack on Skripal and his daughter, no formal case has been brought against them over the death of Sturgess, 44.

The three men and Moscow have denied any involvement.

Last month, the inquiry chair, former Supreme Court judge Anthony Hughes, ruled that the Skripals would not give evidence themselves, saying there was an "overwhelming risk" they still faced physical attack if they could be identified and their current whereabouts revealed.

Two of the Russians accused by Britain of carrying out the poisoning later appeared on Russian TV to deny involvement, saying they had been innocent tourists visiting the city's cathedral.

The incident led to the biggest East-West diplomatic expulsions since the Cold War, and relations between London and Moscow have since got even worse following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian embassy in London said last week the British foreign ministry's "references to the alleged use of the mythical Novichok are quite preposterous".

"Following the Salisbury provocation in 2018 it was the UK side that refused to follow established procedures and cooperate with Russia to uncover the truth," it said on X.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Andrew Heavens)