Dan O'Brien
Reporting from Salisbury Guildhall

While Charlie Rowley may appear in some form later in the inquiry, today’s evidence is about going over his various statements and police interviews.

He describes how he and Dawn tried to open the glass perfume bottle. It was wrapped in thick sealed plastic, they could only get in using a knife. Surely a detail to which the inquiry will return to later.

When they managed to get into it, it spilt over his hands, describing an oily feel Dawn later rubbed it on both her wrists.

But he cannot remember where he got the perfume from. In one interview he suggests a few days earlier, in others he can’t remember at all.

A combination of the poisoning itself, and he says his own addictions to drugs and alcohol, have had a considerable impact on his memory. Several of his statements are contradictory.

The inquiry this morning has been shown lots of CCTV and statements setting out Dawn and Charlie’s movements on the day before they became ill, leaving Dawn’s flat in Salisbury, buying alcohol and a picnic blanket, heading to a local park.

Later, they catch a bus to Amesbury where Charlie lived.

None of it reveals any clue as to where the poison came from, something we are told the inquiry will return to later on.

Charlie and Dawn had "used force" to get into the bottle.

The pair had struggled to assemble the bottle and had to use a kitchen knife to help cut through the polythene seal.

When Charlie was asked how much force they used to open the bottle, he said:

"Quite a bit, because it spilt."

We're getting into the details now about the container that held the Novichok poison.

From a police interview on the 13th July with Charlie Rowley, O'Connor picks out some evidence to highlight to the inquiry.

In the interview, Charlie describes how the perfume was sealed in a "black box".

This seal, he says, was a "thick plastic" and he had to use a knife to cut the wrapper open.

Rowley then describes how he showed it to Dawn, who he remembers "recognised" the perfume because of its name.

Once he tried to open the box with a kitchen knife, Charlie then spilt it over himself, "but thought nothing more of it".

When asked by the police how much Novichok he spilt, Charlie says: "Quite a bit I suppose, I just washed it off".

The bottle which contained Novichok "didn't smell like perfume," Charlie said in his statement.

He explains how the couple had woken up on Saturday 30 June 2018 at Charlie's flat in Amesbury.

That morning he had decided to give Dawn the perfume which he had found "a few days ago."

He says they both struggled to assemble the bottle, leading to Charlie accidentally pouring some of it on his hands.

When they finally managed to get it working, Dawn sprayed some onto her wrist.

"I sniffed it, but it didn't smell like perfume," Charlie said.

"It was just an oily substance. I can't remember what it smelt like. It wasn't a horrible odour but not like something I had smelt before."

We're now hearing more on how the police questioned Charlie Rowley about his drug and alcohol use after he had been poisoned.

After Charlie admitted that his memory had been affected, the officers tried to figure out what might have caused this.

O'Connor makes clear - by referring to police interview transcripts - that officers were not trying to "trip up" Charlie by asking him about whether he had taken any substances.

"We're looking at the bigger picture here, trying to find out where you went Charlie," he reads.

In the interview, Charlie goes on to say he "can't really remember his movements" on the Friday, and admits he "may well" have taken some heroin, but is unsure on the amount.

We hear how Charlie Rowley couldn't remember who Dawn was when he regained consciousness after being poisoned by Novichok.

"When I first came round, I had very little recollection. I could not even remember who Dawn was," he said in a statement given in August 2024.

O'Connor raises the issue about the reliability of Charlie's accounts, due to his memory loss.

Charlie states that when he gave his initial statement to police his memory was bad due to his daily use of alcohol and drugs and the Novichok poisoning. He adds that he does not currently take drugs.

"I have very little memory...since the poisoning it's been a lot harder to think and concentrate. I tend to overthink things. I feel anxious often," he says.

We had initially been expecting to hear directly from Charlie Rowley in this week's hearings. Andrew O'Connor, though, tells us that won't be happening.

He says instead that Rowley may speak when the inquiry moves to London in November.

This means, he explains, that we won't hear about how Charlie came into possession of the tainted perfume bottle until then.

Instead, O'Connor moves on to address events on the 30th June, relying on testimony from Rowley's interviews with police and witness statements he gave later on.

After a short break, the inquiry resumes.

Andrew O’Connor KC steps up to the podium.

He’s here to take us through events on the 30th June - the crucial day when Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess were admitted to hospital with Novichok poisoning.

We're also waiting to hear a statement from Charlie Rowley, which should be read out later today.

We hear how the box, which contained the bottle of Novichok, was found discarded next to a bin in Charlie's flat at Muggleton Road.

Inside the box was a bus ticket for two adults. CCTV footage show Charlie and Dawn boarded the bus at Blue Boar Road to a bus stop near Muggleton Road on the evening of Friday 29 June.

The inquiry is just on a short break.

Image source, Dawn Sturgess Enquiry

Having established some background on Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, we’ve moved on to watch some CCTV of the pair’s movements in John Baker House, where Dawn lived, on the 29th June 2018.

Dawn and Charlie were admitted to hospital a day later on the 30th June.

The inquiry is also shown a map, which depicts some of the couple’s steps after they left the flat, stopping at Boots, an off-license and Poundland as they wandered around in the direction of Queen Elizabeth Gardens.

We hear that Charlie caught a bus in the direction of Amesbury a little later on, while Dawn made a call to her mother describing her plans to see her daughter the next day.

Commander Murphy confirms that Charlie was known to Wiltshire police and had a number of convictions for the possession of heroin.

Police records show that he was also involved in using and dealing class A drugs.

Charlie had also moved to his address at 9 Muggleton Road in Amesbury very recently before him and Dawn were poisoned. He had lived in Salisbury up until 18 May 2018 - two months after the Skripals were poisoned.

However, he indicated that he did not have the bottle of perfume before he moved.

Over the course of proceedings, the police have apologised for suggestions that Dawn Sturgess was a known drugs user. These claims were made earlier on in the Novichok investigation.

Now, Francesca Whitelaw KC is going over these details once again.

The lawyer introduces a police document, which states “there is no evidence to suggest that Dawn Sturgess was ever a user of heroin, contrary to press reporting in 2018”.

The document does state that tests on Dawn in hospital “indicated the presence of trace amounts of cocaine” but confirms that “this is not listed as a cause of her death”.

“Dawn Sturgess had no previous cautions, convictions or reprimands”, the document adds.

Commander Murphy confirms this is the case and says there is “nothing whatsoever” to indicate that Dawn used drugs in the room of the supported living home that she stayed in.

Commander Murphy says that police didn't initially assume the first incident in Salisbury was linked to the second poisoning in Amesbury.

Murphy says counter terrorism needed to "prove in evidence" that the two cases are linked and through "laboratory tests".

Commander Murphy is going through the objectives of the counter terrorism investigation after the poisonings:

• Minimise the risk to public safety - first priority
• Mitigate the risk of state sponsored acts which interfere with national security
• Ensure confidence in police response
• Undertake proper investigation into the circumstances surrounding of the hospitalisation of Sturgess and Rowley
• Secure and preserve the evidence linked to a criminal offence and seek criminal justice outcomes where appropriate
• Work effectively with partner agencies to maximise efficiency of investigation
• Establish fusion and deploy an effective investigation response

The poisoning of Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess came in June 2018, three months after the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal was discovered in Salisbury.

So, Commander Murphy describes how the police in Amesbury - where Charlie and Dawn were based - had “learnt a lot of lessons” from the Salisbury poisoning of the Skripals.

“We had officers that already had the required levels of training and equipment,” Murphy says.

He explained that this meant his teams also had “an established relationship” with laboratories and “expert scientists” who could help advise them.

Francesca Whitelaw KC takes the stand, and we're under way with day three of the Dawn Sturgess inquiry.

She's asking questions on behalf of the inquiry to Commander Dominic Murphy, who'll provide more detail on the police’s operation around the chemical attack.

The pair begin by confirming some timelines about the course of events, before establishing which sections of various police forces were aware of the unfolding incidents.

Today we are expecting to hear about Charlie Rowley.

He was Dawn's partner and was the person who gave Dawn the perfume bottle containing Novichok.

Charlie won't be present at the inquiry as his health has suffered since he was also poisoned by the deadly nerve agent.

It is hoped that we might hear more about where exactly he found the deadly perfume bottle, although the poisoning has left him with significant memory problems.

We will also hear more from the Met Police's counter terrorism command Dominic Murphy about the counter terror response.

Stay with us for more updates. You can watch the inquiry by pressing the Watch Live button at the top of this page.

Image source, Facebook

Yesterday was the second day of the public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess.

Dawn died in 2018, after using a perfume bottle that contained the nerve agent Novichok.

Here's what was established at Salisbury Guildhall on Tuesday:

• Dawn was not a known drug-user, as originally reported by the police. Wiltshire Police's deputy chief inspector Paul Mills apologised to the family for the force getting this wrong.
• Her mum, Catherine Sturgess, described Dawn as "intelligent, funny" and "extremely selfless"
• Met Police's counter terrorism command Dominic Murphy said the Salisbury poisoning was the first identified use of a chemical weapon in the UK used as a tool to "conduct an assassination".
• A covert MI5 operation also ran alongside the police's investigation into the poisonings, he added.
• Paul Mills, deputy chief constable for Wiltshire Police said intelligence suggested that the attack on the Skripals in March 2018 was an "isolated incident".
• He said with "hindsight", more advice should have been given to the police about signs of nerve agent poisoning.
• The hearing heard how Dawn Sturgess was taken ill on the morning of 30 June 2018, but Wiltshire police were not informed of this until the evening.

Welcome to our live coverage of the third day of the public inquiry into the death of a Wiltshire woman who died after being poisoned by the deadly nerve agent Novichok.

Dawn was killed six years ago in a poisoning blamed on Russian agents.

The inquiry will examine the circumstances behind the Novichok attack in Salisbury 2018, and try to establish where responsibility lies and highlight any lessons.

Today's session will begin at 10:00 BST. You can watch the inquiry by pressing the Watch Live button at the top of this page.

Our live page on day two of the Dawn Sturgess inquiry will shortly be closing.

Today, we heard from her mother, Caroline, who read out an emotional statement.

It was followed by testimony from Paul Mills, deputy chief constable for Wiltshire Police, and Dominic Murphy, commander of the Met Police's counter terrorism command.

They both outlined the various response to the poisonings, and the ensuing investigations.

Tomorrow, we will be back with live coverage - we expect to hear evidence relating to Charlie Rowley, Dawn's partner who was also poisoned.

This page was edited by Steve Mellen and Chris Kelly.

Its writers were Imogen James, Dawn Limbu, with analysis from Dan O'Brien at the inquiry in Salisbury's Guildhall.