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Updated at 6pm
THE FORMER RUSSIAN double-agent who collapsed in a British town alongside his daughter was the victim of attempted murder with a nerve agent, the Metropolitan Police has said.
“This is being treated as a major incident involving attempted murder by administration of a nerve agent”, said Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley.
Rowley said they would not be providing further information at this stage about the exact substance that has been identified.
66-year-old Sergei Skripal is in hospital along with his daughter after reportedly being exposed to a deadly substance.
A former colonel with Russian military intelligence, Skripal was sentenced in 2006 to 13 years in jail in Russia on charges of spying for Britain but was granted refuge in the UK following a spy swap between the United States and Russia in 2010.
Rowley confirmed that Met Police believe that the pair were targeted specifically.
‘Not necessarily terrorism’
An update earlier from the Met Police says that the two, who were found on a bench in a shopping centre in Salisbury, remain in hospital and critically ill. The Met Police said the incident is not necessarily terrorism.
“[Yesterday] it was confirmed that the Counter Terrorism Policing network had taken over the lead for the investigation, due to the unusual circumstances and the specialist expertise the network can bring to the investigation.
It has not been declared a terrorist incident and we continue to keep an open mind as to what happened.
Metropolitan Police / TwitterLIVE: Update from Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley about the investigation into the major incident in #Salisbury https://t.co/aeJWotoTS1
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 7, 2018
Speaking this afternoon, Rowley said: “Of course public safety remains a priority. This is clearly an awful incident and I know that local people will be concerned, but I would stress at the moment we are not seeing any evidence of a widespread health risk.”
The Met Police said officers have carried out CCTV enquiries and spoken to a number of people as part of the inquiry.
They are now appealing to anybody who visited Salisbury town centre and surrounding areas on Sunday afternoon and has not yet spoken to police to get in touch.
They are keen to speak to anyone who visited Zizzi restaurant on Castle Street and The Bishop’s Mill pub in The Maltings.
Britain yesterday warned it would respond “robustly” if it emerged that a government was behind the suspected poisoning.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson even suggested England could pull out of the 2018 football World Cup in Russia if it were shown to be behind the incident.
With reporting by Hayley Halpin
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Yes. Nice Christmas tradition to keep up, letting people know that you’re thinking about them, and nice to be able to buy them for charities too.
@GrumpyAulFella: Isnt that what social media, telephones, and private messages does in modern times? You can donate to charities when ever you want?
@Stephen Campbell: no it’s not, cards are a nice way for someone to physically receive something from someone that shows they are being thought about especially folks that live alone.
@Stephen Campbell: Oh yea the lazy incencer way, I almost forgot that.
@Stephen Campbell: I’ll just show my 92 year old mother how to setup a FB account so she can post to her relatives in the UK. She can then set herself up on online banking, buy a mobile and use MFA to send a few bob to Barnardos. I don’t think so.
@Stephen Campbell: You can physically keep a card. It literally has the senders DNA on it. It is so personal.
@GrumpyAulFella: you must be over 60
@Frankie J: so true
@Alan Campbell: “you must be over 60”. You say that as if it’s something bad or to be ashamed of
@Alan Campbell: Strange remark. What’s his alternative option?
A handwritten greeting on a card sent through the post is more intimate than a fancy emailed card.
No, but the wife does!
@Billy O’Brien: Came to say the same thing haha
I do to family and friends that are overseas or I’m unlikely to see over the holidays. As for them going in the bin, that’s fair enough in other homes but I keep most of ours. Nice to look back on.
Poll – ‘Do you send cards to people for Christmas?’ Yes, I generally send mine to people as they’re more likely to appreciate the gesture than non-people. I have heard of ones specifically designed for non-people like pets though. I’m not sure if other non-people such as aliens celebrate Christmas although Chris De Burgh would have us believe they do ‘La la la la la la la la la, la la la la la la la, la la la la la la la la la, oh…’ When is An Post last day for posting to Alpha Centauri I wonder…
@William Tallon: New Poll… how many people have sang along to the tune … la la la la ….
@William Tallon: New Poll, How many people have sang along to that tune … la la la la..
@William Tallon: New Poll, How many people have sang along to that tune … la la la la..
@William Tallon: Funny. I always took that song as aliens being the cause of Christmas? That Christ came here from another time/galaxy/universe.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Well either way it was a good excuse for writing a catchy tune…
I’ve always felt terribly sorry for the people who design, paint, or print Christmas Cards. Any appreciation of their work is so short – lived.
A big waste of money, paper and a fine pile for the bin by the 6th of January.
Rubbish that ends up in landfill or an incinerator.
If you have family or friends living far away wouldn’t a 5 minute phone call be better then some overpriced piece of cardboard?
@Will: Bah Humbug…
@maurolee: ‘Bah Humbug…’
What really shows someone you’re thinking of them? A mass produced hallmark card or a phone call when you can tell them personally how much they mean to you and actually hear their voice?
Christmas cards are about as personable as a business card.
Expensive and unnecessary rubbish.
@Will: Christmas cards are cheap, recyclable, are an avenue for charitable donations, may be kept as a memento, hung over the fireplace for decoration etc. A phone call is fleeting, soon forgotten, may be expensive and carries no opportunity to provide charity to others. Give me a card any day of the week.
@Will: No. Letters and cards can be kept for your whole life.
The parents do and put my name on them.
I send cards to friends and family overseas those I’m not likely to see over Christmas. As for them being dumped Not in my house, I keep the majority of our cards.
I didn’t bother with the Irish ones this year as the stamps were too embarrassing – just cheap emojis with inane slogans. The international ones were just okay.
@Willie Penwright: so you didn’t send Christmas cards because you don’t like the stamp design?
@This time its personable!: Obviously his entire world is full of avid stamp collectors who will feel cheated if he doesn’t send them Penny Blacks every year. The rest of us are keeping in touch regardless!
Happy Christmas
Why send cards when you have social media to send Christmas greetings
@Mick Dunne: … to help out a charity? I always buy E10 worth of Vincent de Paul cards.
@Mick Dunne: your mantle piece must be very bare
Can’t afford stamps on a state pension.
No i dont send any out the price of the stamps is enough to turn ya off
I know what you mean, it keeps going up. Still, in normal years, it’s a good chance to meet up and exchange cards.
This is going to make me look bad. As soon as they drop on the mat they are put straight into the recycling. Most I don’t even open.
@LUCY Thomas: you are right about one thing, it does make you look bad. Very bad. Someone has gone to the trouble of buying a card, writing a message, posting it to you and you just put it in the bin straight away? How selfish.
@LUCY Thomas: Would you not mention to the senders that you don’t do Christmas cards and suggest some other way of keeping in touch?
I’m sorry but I’m grinning at the amount of bank notes and lottery cards you’ve thrown out along with your personal information!
@Liz Gallagher: I will elaborate further. I wholeheartedly accept your comment on how I deal with it. I don’t do card and I will always acknowledge a card. But I feel nothing for them, my husband thinks I’m “brutal” for it. He will often take them out and keep them. When I was younger growing up into a teenager it became apparent to me how little thought was put Into them by my mother, often on my birthday for instance I would receive a gift in a co-op bag around 5pm on my birthday not wrapped, it was done like this because she had forgotten or didn’t care. Also her cards if one was written was half a ss. So from a young age I’ve grown up with this idea people don’t really care.
I see my husband and his family and its alien to me.. they are much more tactile with one another.
I made a personal birthday card out of a hover bag once – Didn’t go down well
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