Lord Hughes of Ombersley, the Chair of the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry, has today published his report into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dawn Sturgess. Dawn was poisoned with a military-grade Russian nerve agent in June 2018 and died on 8 July 2018. The Chair’s report can be found here.
Lord Hughes concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal using Novichok in Salisbury in March 2018, and there was a clear causative link between the use and discarding of Novichok, and Dawn Sturgess’ death and the poisoning of her partner, Charlie Rowley. Lord Hughes concluded that: “Deploying a highly toxic nerve agent in a busy city was an astonishingly reckless act, and the risk that others beyond the intended target might be killed or injured was entirely foreseeable. That risk was dramatically magnified by leaving in the city a bottle of the Novichok disguised as perfume.”
He also concluded that there were failings in managing the risk to Sergei Skripal from Russia after he came to the UK in a prisoner swap, and deficiencies in the public health response after the Salisbury attack, prior to Dawn’s death.
Jesse Nicholls represented Dawn Sturgess’ family, led by Michael Mansfield KC and Adam Straw KC, instructed by Marcia Willis Stewart KC (Hon) and Hazel Metcalfe of Birnberg Peirce Solicitors.
The family’s statement can be found here.
The report has been widely covered in the media: