HAUNTING CCTV footage showed the final footsteps of a mum killed by Novichok as her daughter revealed “I never saw her or got to say goodbye”.
Mum-of-three Dawn Sturgess, 44, was tragically poisoned by the deadly nerve agent several months after the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia – who were the intended targets of the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.
Dawn’s boyfriend Charlie Rowley, 45, who was also seriously ill, gifted her a perfume bottle in July, later found to contain Novichok.
Charlie had discovered the Nina Ricci bottle, discarded by the Russian poisoners seven miles away from the Salisbury attack, and innocently given it to the mum.
Heartbreaking CCTV footage has now revealed the mum’s final moments before she succumbed to the nerve agent.
She was pictured wearing a pink summer dress and straw hat walking around the nearby town of Amesbury.
The Dawn Sturgess Inquiry, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Lord Hughes of Ombersley, began on Monday at The Guildhall in Salisbury.
Dawn’s devastated daughter, who was of primary school age at the time, wrote a statement to be read at the inquiry.
The heart-wrenching tribute was read aloud by Dawn’s mother, Caroline Sturgess, who said: “Me and my mum had a bond that I will never forget. The day I heard she had fallen really ill was heartbreaking to hear.
“In my mind I thought she would push through it because there was nothing my mum couldn’t handle,” as reported by the Guardian.
“The day I heard everyone go to say their goodbyes when she was in intensive care was so upsetting.
“Shortly after she passed away. One thing I will never forget is due to my age I never saw her or got to say goodbye.”
Caroline, a retired civil servant, also paid an emotional tribute to her daughter.
She said: “Dawn was the eldest of our four girls; a mother of three children herself.
“Now she would have been a grandmother but she will never have the absolute joy of meeting her first grandchild and doesn’t get to watch her grow.”
The heartbroken mother described her late daughter as “an intelligent, funny, extremely selfless and very kind person” who “cared deeply for her family and many friends”.
Caroline explained how Dawn had been looking forward to a fresh start and was “totally supported” by the family while staying at a hostel.
The grandmother told the inquiry Dawn’s children were always her “main priority” and her youngest would “run into her arms” when meeting her.
“She was not a known drug user, as had initially been reported and then repeated,” stressed Caroline.
Caroline told the inquiry the last conversation she had with Dawn was the night before the poisoning.
“We spoke at length about the excitement she felt at the prospect of finally leaving the hostel,” she said.
The mum-of-three had been planning on taking her daughter out on the day she unknowingly sprayed herself with Novichok.
“Dawn’s death was a tragedy to us all, but the fact that her daughter was not killed as well is a solace we often revisit,” added Caroline.
Meanwhile, Andrew O’Connor KC, counsel to the Dawn Sturgess inquiry, told the hearing: “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.
“Whether or not that is in fact what happened will, of course, be for you to determine.”
He added: “A particularly shocking feature of Dawn’s death is that she unwittingly applied the poison to her own skin.
“She was entirely unaware of the mortal danger she faced, because the highly toxic liquid had been concealed – carefully and deliberately concealed – inside a perfume bottle.
“Moreover, the evidence will suggest that this bottle – which we shall hear contained enough poison to kill thousands of people – must earlier have been left somewhere in public place creating the obvious risk that someone would find it and take it home.”
He added it could be determined those who threw away the bottle “acted with a grotesque disregard for human life”.
It comes as new CCTV images show suspected Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia – the intended targets of the Salisbury poisonings – walking around after unknowingly being poisoned.
The former spy, who was exposed to Novichok, handed a young boy bread to feed the ducks.
The deadly nerve agent was spread on the handle of their front door and later concealed in a perfume bottle that contained “enough poison to kill thousands of people”.
On the day they came into contact with the substance in March 2018, the pair went into a pub and Sergei even gave a child bread while they stopped to feed some ducks.
They also visited a Zizzi’s restaurant before sitting down to relax on a park bench – where they eventually collapsed.
Sergei and Yulia survived the Novichok poisoning after a gruelling stint in hospital.
The duo spent two years hauled up in an MI5 safe house, and are understood to have relocated to a secret location overseas.
The inquiry into Dawn’s death also heard from Sergei, via a statement, to protect his safety it was decided he and his daughter would not attend in person.
He said: “I believe Putin makes all important decisions himself. I therefore think he must have at least given permission for the attack on Yulia and me.
“Any GRU commander taking a decision like this without Putin’s permission would have been severely punished.
“That is what I meant when I said ‘special services in Russia will do nothing again without permission Putin’ 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.”
The former spy claimed when he was working in GRU special services he was told of allegations that “Putin had been involved in illegal activity to do with the disposal of rare metals”.
He also said he believed poisoning was a “KGB technique” because it is “not honourable”.
Sergei highlighted the poisoning of Litvinenko in 2006 and said he has read claims that “Putin is personally very interested in poison”.
“I think Yulia was right in principle when she said ‘If [the Russian government] want to kill you they will find a way anywhere'”, he added.
“Nobody can be protected 100% from an assassin, especially one who plans carefully or is prepared to die.”
