Need to know
True crime doc The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door airs this evening on Sky Documentaries.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were the main targets of the poisoning
Everything there is to know about Sergei Skripal now
- Eight years after the Novichok poisoning attack on ex-KGB operative Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, a true crime doc entitled The Salisbury Poisonings: A Spy Next Door, has been released. The Sky Documentaries special takes a closer look at the terrifying incident and the aftermath which saw British national Dawn Sturgess killed after encountering the deadly nerve agent.
- The 2018 attack left the Skripals unconscious on a bench in Wiltshire, with authorities believing Novichok had been applied to their front door. Dawn Sturgess, 44, tragically died after she and partner Charlie Rowley found a contaminated perfume bottle seven miles from the original scene.
- A judge leading a new inquiry last year said there was an “overwhelming risk” of a physical attack on the Skripals if their whereabouts were discovered. However, Sergei told officials: “I never thought the Russian regime would have tried to murder me in UK, they could’ve killed me easily when in prison.”
- After recovering from the attack, Yulia said: “We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination. Our recovery has been slow and extremely painful.” She added that the assault had left a “devastating” mark on their lives. The Skripals were housed in an MI6 safe house for two years before reportedly relocating overseas under new identities, possibly to New Zealand or Australia.
- Their former neighbours received a Christmas card in 2019, saying: “It’s nice to know they are thinking of us, but I don’t expect we’ll ever see them again.” The contaminated Salisbury property was decontaminated and sold to Wiltshire Council for £260,000, eventually being purchased by a local resident in 2023 as the community attempts to move forward from the traumatic events.
READ THE FULL STORY: Where Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia are now after Salisbury poisoning attempt 7 years ago