Ex-police officer holds back tears as he recalls impact of Novichok poisoning

A former police officer who was poisoned by Novichok held back tears as he gave evidence to the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry about how the incident had affected him mentally and physically.

Nick Bailey was contaminated after the nerve agent was smeared on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal’s door handle in Salisbury in March 2018.

The poisoning of Mr Bailey followed the attempted murder of Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia and came a few months before Ms Sturgess, 44, died after being exposed to Novichok left in a discarded perfume bottle in nearby Amesbury, Wiltshire.

Questioning Mr Bailey on his recollection of events on Thursday, counsel to the inquiry Francesca Whitelaw KC said: “It is fair to say the poisoning had a very significant mental and physical impact on you.”

Mr Bailey appeared to well up as he nodded in response to Ms Whitelaw.

At the beginning of his evidence, Mr Bailey said: “My recollection of the events of March 2018 is hazy at best.

“I spent a lot of time dealing with it when it happened and dealing with the aftermath of it, processing it, and I got to a point where the only way for me to kind of move on from it was to stop thinking about it and to close it off.

“So it’s been some time since I have actually had to then go back to those events – so yes, my memory of the incident isn’t the best.”

Mr Bailey frequently referred to his witness statement throughout his evidence and recalled a colleague calling the control room to say “a Russian spy has been poisoned”.

He told the inquiry: “It is not something that I had heard before and it’s not something I had thought I would ever hear again.

“It was a bizarre incident.

“I remember thinking ‘I will never hear that phrase on a Wiltshire Police radio again’.”

Mr Bailey was then asked to recall entering Mr Skripal’s address, detailing everything he touched in the house.

He also spoke of how his symptoms worsened overnight after being poisoned, with him feeling “incredibly hot” and sweating.

He said: “Overnight, I would describe it as getting a lot worse.

“I went down at around five in the morning because I was freaking out a little and my vision was impaired.

“Once I turned the lights on, everything was crystal clear and it was juddered as opposed to being a smooth motion of looking around.

“It was almost in frames – it was quite scary.”

The inquiry chairman Lord Hughes concluded Mr Bailey’s evidence by saying: “I am very conscious you have had to relive a very nasty experience but it was necessary and thank you for doing it.”

The inquiry continues.