Police officer left critically ill after Novichok case returns to work
The policeman who was left critically ill after the Salisbury Novichok attack on Sergei Skripal has returned to active duty.
Wiltshire Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey is believed to have come into contact with the deadly nerve agent when he and two colleagues searched the Salisbury home of the former Russian spy.
Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were left fighting for their lives after they collapsed on a bench in Salisbury on March 5, while Mr Bailey was also rushed to hospital.
Mr Bailey said his life “will never be the same again” after he was discharged on March 22.
But he has now returned to work, Wiltshire Police confirmed on Tuesday, although the force would not comment further.
“He’s doing very well and we look forward to working with him,” Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Angus Macpherson told the BBC.
“He’s making a good recovery – but I suspect the mental recovery will be longer, as it would for any of us who were exposed to something as horrific as that.
“He will be given all the support he needs.”
Mr Bailey’s return to work comes as the Skripals’ home in Christie Miller Road is set to be dismantled as decontamination work continues in the cathedral city.
Scaffolding has been put up and workmen could be seen erecting metal beams around the semi-detached house on Tuesday afternoon.
A police officer stood watch at a cordon in the quiet cul-de-sac.
Wiltshire Council has written to neighbours warning them of the disruption the deep clean and construction work – expected to take up to four months – will cause.
Investigators believe the Skripals first came into contact with the poison when it was sprayed on the door handle of their property.
Mr Skripal and his daughter survived the attack, which Prime Minister Theresa May said had “almost certainly” been approved by the Russian state.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill in Amesbury months after the incident and died in hospital in July after coming into contact with a perfume bottle believed to have been used in the attack on the Skripals and then discarded.
Her partner, Charlie Rowley, 45, was also exposed to the same nerve agent but was treated and discharged.
Two Russian nationals have been accused of travelling to the UK to try to murder Mr Skripal with Novichok.
Evidence gathered by intelligence agencies led the Government to conclude that the men were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU.
The two suspects – known by their aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov – were caught on CCTV in Salisbury the day before the attack.
