Public inquiry opens in Britain in to death of woman caught up in Russian nerve agent attack

Oct. 14 (UPI) -- An independent public inquiry got underway in Salisbury, England, on Monday to try to get the bottom of the fatal Novichok poisoning of a British woman in 2018, four months after a failed assassination attempt on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripol in the same town.

The judge-led inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess, 44, will run Monday through Friday hearing from witnesses and focusing on the response of the police and emergency services and the investigation, with a further two weeks in London Nov. 4-15 looking at the post mortem and pathology reports and hearing from experts, according to a news release .

The post mortem found the cause of death was Novichok poising but the hearings, chaired by Lord Hughes of Ombersley, will investigate the circumstances leading to Sturgess' death, work to figure out who is responsible and make recommendations.

As part of the inquiry, there will be five days of hearings Oct. 28 through Nov. 1 at the International Dispute Resolution Center in London on the poisoning of Skripal, then aged 67, and his daughter Yulia, who almost died after Novichok was planted in Skripal's home in March 2018.

Sturgess' partner, Charlie Rowley, was also hospitalized after the pair handled a discarded perfume bottle containing Novichok and Wilshire Police officer Nick Bailey who attended the crime scene suffered life-changing injuries after being exposed to the nerve agent.

The inquiry will be mostly "open" -- conducted publicly -- but some days will be "closed" -- held behind closed doors -- with no public or press in attendance due to secrecy restrictions around certain witnesses and national security restrictions.

In 2021, after a three-year Metropolitan Police investigation, British authorities charged three Russians in absentia with the poisonings. Moscow has denied having anything to do with the attack and refused to hand over the suspects.

The charges included murder, causing grievous bodily harm and illegal possession and use of a chemical weapon.