Mr Nicholls has been talking very strongly about the police response.

“This catalogue of deficiencies cannot be explained as individual oversight or mere error of judgement.

"The family have followed this evidence closely.

"They worked in stereotypes and they were blinkered by a singular and incorrect focus on drug use and their hurtful erroneous characterisation of Dawn was based on a selective approach to the information that they held."

He added none of the frontline officers accepted blame or apologised until very late in the day, "if at all".

As we've heard, in their closing statements to the public inquiry into her death, Dawn Sturgess' family have criticised a failure by authorities to warn of the risk of discarded nerve agent, but have strongly praised the work of paramedics

Mr Nicholls said the 'do not pick it up' advice should have been issued before July.

"The advice plainly was not issued until after Dawn was poisoned," he said.

The family say the public were placed at "considerable risk" and "Dawn was denied the possibility of a different outcome".

Mr Nicholls said Public Health England [PHE] shared their concern over a discarded nerve agent container with the police early in the investigation.

"PHE were briefed that residual materials discarded by the perpetrators could be discovered and cause acute clinical harm to those persons finding them," he said.

"It was recognised as a potential risk".

Mr Nicholls said the police response "caused unjustified and lasting damage to Dawn, her reputation and to her family".

Earlier in the inquiry, a police officer who wrongly described Novichok victim Dawn Sturgess as a "well-known drug addict" apologised.

Mr Nicholls said: "Preparation for a potential secondary incident was wanting."

He described "a lack of effective debrief and learning following the Salisbury attack at both a national and local level".

Wiltshire Police were "severely inadequate", they acted with "arrogance, stereotyping and a lack of professionalism", said Mr Nichols.

He said officers' failings "put other first responders and the public at grave risk".

We are now hearing from Jesse Nicholls, also part of Dawn Sturgess' family's legal team.

He said while some aspects of the response were "in their view highly commendable but there was a failure from the TMO and Public Health to issue 'do not to pick it up' to the public".

He explained first responders were not informed of the risk that discarded Novichok could still be present in the community.

Adam Straw KC tells the inquiry it was an "extremely dangerous act" to leave the bottle in the UK.

He said: "A total of 87 members of the public presented at the hospital's emergency department as a result of the Novichok."

He now moves onto Ms Sturgess' death.

Mr Straw says the Novichok was "intentionally left in the UK", calling her death "an unlawful killing".

She had "high levels" of Novichok on her hands.

The inquiry hears Russia attempted to hack into the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the Hauge.

It also attempted to hack the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Mr Straw claims the attack on the Skripals could not have been carried out without Mr Putin's authorisation.

Mr Skripal said any agent taking this action without permission would have been "severely punished".

The inquiry has heard that Russia tried to blame the Novichok attack on: Yulia's mother-in-law, Theresa May, as a distraction from Brexit or a means to increase defence spending.

Mr Straw said Putin had made comments which indicated an intent to harm Mr Skripal.

He described him as a "traitor".

Shortly after the 2010 spy swap, Mr Putin said: "As for the traitors will croak all by themselves."

Adam Straw KC, representing the family of Dawn Sturgess, is telling the inquiry: "There's nothing whatsoever of any touristic or sight-seeing interest in the four journeys they (Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga) took."

He said the Nina Ricci perfume bottle was "specially-adapted", so that it would be possible to carry Novichok across the border without detection.

He also says counter terrorism police hold evidence that all three suspects, Denis Sergeev, Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga, worked for Unit 29155, a Russian military intelligence (GRU) unit.

Dan O'Brien
At the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry in London

Within minutes of the session starting, the proceedings have been paused because of a disclosure of sensitive information about a witness.

This has happened quite regularly during the inquiry and is an example of how this process is trying to balance answering questions publicly while protecting national security.

A pause like this can give the impression some big state secret has been revealed - but it can often be a mundane slip of a tongue, like revealing too many personal details about some of the witnesses who have only been known by cyphers.

For some, even their gender has been kept secret by a restriction order.

The hearing has now resumed - we'll see a transcript later on which will mark exactly how much has been removed.

Extraordinarily, the feed has been cut already.

This happens when the inquiry hears, for example, about national security.

Inquiry counsel Andrew O'Connor KC was talking about the timetable for the day when the feed was interrupted.

Dan O'Brien
At the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry in London

Today marks the end of the public sessions in this inquiry, before it moves to the secret "closed" hearings in the new year where classified information will be considered.

These closing statements are the chance for each of the legal teams to set out their key points of the past six weeks – their remarks are directed at the chair who will write the final report, but it also gives them a stage on which to make these final points very publicly.

Today, we will hear from lawyers representing the Sturgess family, Counter Terror Policing, Wiltshire Police, the South Western Ambulance Service, as well as brief legal statements on behalf of His Majesty’s Government as well as a lawyer representing the initial victims of the poisonings, the Skripals.

Det Sgt Nick Bailey was the first person to enter the home of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia after they were found poisoned in March 2018.

He was contaminated when he touched the door handle of Mr Skripal's home.

He told the BBC's Panorama his family lost their home and all their possessions after he unwittingly contaminated his home with Novichok.

Mr Bailey was admitted to Salisbury District Hospital with one of the Skripals being treated in the room next door, which he said was guarded by police.

The inquiry also revealed a boy fell ill after coming into contact with Sergei Skripal the day he and Yulia were poisoned.

CCTV footage shows Mr Skripal interacting with the child, handing him bread to feed ducks in Salisbury.

The boy, along with two others, was later traced as part of the investigation, and reported being ill for a day or two after the encounter.

You'll be able to watch today's inquiry live at the top of the page - although it will be on a 10 minute delay.

We are expecting to get under way at 10am - or 10.10am with the delay. Click the watch live button at the top of the page.

The vial which contained the Novichok poison, opened by Dawn Sturgess, had enough poison to "kill thousands", the inquiry was told.

We found out that a boy fell ill after Sergei Skripal gave him bread to feed ducks in Salisbury city centre. Skripal had already been exposed to Novichok which had been left on his door handle at home by that point.

We also learned that doctors were "gobsmacked" when Skripal's daughter Yulia woke up after being poisoned, thinking she would never recover.

The inquiry was also told that the Novichok in the perfume bottle didn't smell like perfume, was wrapped in thick plastic and had an "oily texture".

And Wiltshire Police were told, directly after the poisoning of the Skripals, that there were no ex-spies living in the county and that they were "over-reacting".

The two suspects seen in Salisbury were identified as Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov.

However, it was later revealed their real names were Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga.

In a Russian TV interview in 2018 the men claimed their trip was merely for leisure, telling the reporter: "Our friends had been suggesting for a long time that we visit this wonderful town."

A third man, using the alias Sergey Fedotov, was with the pair in London but not in Salisbury. His real name is believed to be Denis Sergeev.

All three men have been charged over the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, but not the death of Dawn Sturgess.

Nobody has been charged with her murder after she came into contact with the nerve agent by accident.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury city centre on 4 March 2018.

Mr Skripal had served as a member of the GRU - Russian military intelligence - but was convicted of spying for Britain in 2004 in his home country and jailed for 13 years.

In 2010 he was given a presidential pardon and brought to the UK on a prisoner exchange.

The first emergency service personnel to find the Skripals thought they could be dealing with a fentanyl overdose.

It was only in the days which followed that a nerve agent was identified by scientists at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down.

Mr Skripal provided a written statement to the inquiry claiming only Putin could have authorised the attack.

Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the incident.

A murder inquiry was launched after Dawn Sturgess, 44, died from Novichok poisoning in Salisbury Hospital on 8 July 2018.

The mother-of-three was fatally poisoned after spraying herself with the contents of a perfume bottle which contained a "significant amount" of the nerve agent. The inquiry heard there was enough Novichok to "kill thousands".

Her partner Charlie Rowley told police he had found the perfume in a charity collection bin on 27 June.

Ms Sturgess collapsed at Mr Rowley's house in Amesbury, about seven miles from Salisbury, shortly after opening the perfume on 30 June.

He also became ill but was discharged from hospital on 20 July.

Image source, Family handout