Novichok death inquiry into Dawn Sturgess' death to start in October

Mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess died after coming into contact with the Russian nerve agent Novichok

A public inquiry into the death of Novichok victim Dawn Sturgess will start in October.

A hearing held earlier at the Royal Courts of Justice was told there will be "astonishing observations", but that not everything can be heard in public.

Ms Sturgess, 44, died in July 2018 in Wiltshire after coming into contact with the nerve agent in what she thought was a bottle of perfume.

The inquiry is due to start on 14 October in Salisbury.

It will then move to London.

An inquest into Ms Sturgess' death opened in 2021 but the coroner requested a public inquiry be held to allow it to have access to intelligence which will be considered in private.

Dawn Sturgess was not the target of the Novichok poisonings but encountered the nerve agent by accident

The preliminary hearing was told that there had been "enormous amounts of painstaking work" to produce documents for the inquiry, which had to be reviewed "line by line".

Ms Sturgess' family now has access to CCTV footage to examine before October, the hearing was told.

The family's KC, Michael Mansfield, said there will be "astonishing observations".

Lord Hughes, the chair of the inquiry, said the inquiry should be "straightforward", detailing how Ms Sturgess came to die, who did it, why and if it was preventable.

The deadly solution Novichok was smeared on the door handle of Sergei and Yulia Skripal's home in Salisbury

Ms Sturgess died at Salisbury District Hospital on 8 July 2018.

It came after the targeted nerve agent attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, which led to an international effort to capture Russian agents suspected of smearing Novichok on their front door handle.

Russia has always denied that the Kremlin was involved.