MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2020) The lawyers of Dawn Sturgess, the UK woman who died after being allegedly exposed to a military-grade nerve agent in the town of Amesbury two years ago, have said that the substance may have been placed deliberately, The Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Russian-born former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were the targets of an alleged chemical attack in the UK city of Salisbury in March 2018. Both survived, although Sturgess and her partner Charlie Rowley fell ill almost four months later after being exposed to what the UK said was a nerve agent, which they reportedly found in a perfume bottle. Then-Prime Minister Theresa May blamed the incident on Russia, and Michael Mansfield, representing the victim's relatives at a high court hearing, also alluded to these accusations.
"Was it left behind deliberately to be part of a pattern of behaviour alluded to by the prime minister?" Mansfield said, as quoted by the newspaper.
The lawyer also said that it was unlikely that the perfume bottle had remained in place for four months before being discovered by Sturgess and Rowley, the newspaper said.
Russia has consistently denied all allegations of involvement in the poisoning and has stated that UK officials have yet to offer credible evidence proving Moscow's role in the incident.
