'Risk of more Novichok attacks not shared with public'

Health officials had warned early on of the risk that someone might come into contact with the discarded nerve agent Novichok, an inquiry has heard.

However, this was not shared with the public amid fears it could create "panic", a witness from Public Health England, named V13A for anonymity, told an inquiry on Thursday.

The organisation was tasked with mitigating the risks to the wider public and giving safety advice after ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury in March 2018, but survived.

The witness was giving evidence at an inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess, 44, who died in July the same year after being exposed to the nerve agent.

Just days after the attack, witness V13A told the inquiry the Department of Health and Social Care had feared "panic" could have ensued if the public had been advised of the danger.

By mid-March 2018, the Department of Health had devised a worst case scenario suggesting that people could die by coming into contact with a container of the nerve agent.

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But the inquiry heard that while this advice was considered, it had not been acted on until after Ms Sturgess died four months later when public advice was issued to warn people in the Salisbury area to not pick up litter.

Counsel to the inquiry, Emilie Pottle asked the witness whether there was a basis from the behavioural scientists about the "panic that could ensue whether the advice was given".

V13A suggested those were the words that had come from a Department of Health and Social Care official.

Ms Pottle then replied with: "So stoking panic was not one of your reasons".

V13A said she would have used the word "anxiety".

Wiltshire Police chief Catherine Roper has reassured public on any ongoing Novichok risk in Salisbury.

"There's absolutely nothing to indicate that this is a circumstance we'll be experiencing again," she said.

"We have strengthened our relationship with all of our partners and many of them have been giving evidence during the inquiry so we are aligned, working closely together and there is nothing to indicate any concern."

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