UK -Major incident declared - UK anti-terror police investigating possible nerve agent attack, 2018

[Ellmau]

John Baker House, the hostel where DS had been living, was evacuated yesterday according to local press.

Amesbury attack: John Baker House residents set for evacuation

 

[Elley Mae]

Why won't the police just come out and say what the contaminated object was?

Because they don’t know. Clueless they are. Not their fault they don’t know, but I do not agree with the accusations of knowing who did it when they don’t even know the how or the why.

 

[Shiressleuth]

[QUOTE: Gunslinging Granny, post: 14197786, member: 194948"]Why would there be a syringe with Novichok in the park if this poison was smeared on the Skripals' doorknob which is miles away?[/QUOTE]

The syringe may have been used to deliver the substance into something they ate or drank at Zizzi's and discarded in the park afterwards.

Have they retrieved a syringe then?

Mods : quote got messed up with my text jumping up there.

 

[Shiressleuth]

Zizzi | Fresh, Local, Authentic Italian Restaurants | Takeaway

Zizzi's has never re-opened.

 

[CARIIS]

Why won't the police just come out and say what the contaminated object was?

that is what I am wondering

 

[Shiressleuth]

River Bourne, Wiltshire - Wikipedia

River flow direction from Porton to Salisbury.

 

[sorrell skye]

‘It’s happened again, so did they clean up properly’
"Police believe the couple may have been poisoned after touching a syringe at Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury, with cops in a desperate hunt to find the deadly vial."

Thank you for posting this info, Dotr.

According to the above article that Dotr linked, police believe the victims touched a poisoned syringe, but they haven't found the "vial".

Is the reporter incorrectly using the words 'syringe' and 'vial' interchangeably, or do the police believe there is a vial (i.e. small bottle that a syringe is inserted into) of novichok laying about somewhere?

These days it can be difficult to determine exactly what a reporter is actually meaning, as sometimes they use improper terminology.

Also, I'm wondering why the police believe the couple touched a contaminated syringe. Why would either/or both of them touch a syringe (presumably found on the ground at Queen Elizabeth Gardens)? Everyone these days knows not to touch a discarded syringe - even without the astronomically low chance of being exposed to a deadly nerve agent.

I wonder: Did one of the victims tell police they had touched a syringe at the Gardens, or is this pure speculation on the part of the police?

 

[Shiressleuth]

Poisoned pair 'handled contaminated item'

This article explains a bit more why police think the couple handled a vial or syringe "because of their lifestyle".

 

[Elley Mae]

Poisoned pair 'handled contaminated item'

This article explains a bit more why police think the couple handled a vial or syringe "because of their lifestyle".

How sad.

All that tells me is that it was on one or both of their hands.

I have to wonder what would be said if the couple were clean cut well to do.

 

[Shiressleuth]

It seems to me they are guessing - I don't think they have located the item that contaminated them. Same as they did not find exactly how the Skripals were given the stuff either.

 

[Shiressleuth]

Novichok investigators search hostel

Searching of John Baker House is being conducted. Now a perfume bottle is suggested as a possible contaminated item.
Clueless they are indeed Elley Mae.
Porton Down are preparing for an influx of items for testing.

 

[sorrell skye]

So because this couple has a purported history of drug abuse, the police are putting out the unfounded speculation that they were poisoned due to touching a contaminated syringe - without any evidence to support this claim?

That's about as rotten as it gets.

As far as I'm concerned, that sounds as if the police are blaming the victims, in order to divert attention away from their inability to decipher the origin of the poisoning.

 

[Taskforce88]

So because this couple has a purported history of drug abuse, the police are putting out the unfounded speculation that they were poisoned due to touching a contaminated syringe - without any evidence to support this claim?

That's about as rotten as it gets.

As far as I'm concerned, that sounds as if the police are blaming the victims, in order to divert attention away from their inability to decipher the origin of the poisoning.

They initially said they had taken a 'bad batch' of drugs and that there was no concern related to the Skipal case. Then Porton Down says Novichok, again.

 

[Amonet]

Poisoned pair 'handled contaminated item'

This article explains a bit more why police think the couple handled a vial or syringe "because of their lifestyle".

If the novichok had been injected into them, then I agree that their 'lifestyle' might be a factor. But if the worst of the contamination is on their hands, I'm not sure how that would fit with picking up a vial of novichok thinking it was a vial of heroin?

 

[Amonet]

Novichok investigators search hostel

Searching of John Baker House is being conducted. Now a perfume bottle is suggested as a possible contaminated item.
Clueless they are indeed Elley Mae.
Porton Down are preparing for an influx of items for testing.

Wasn't a perfume bottle one of the suggestions for the Skripals? I think the conjecture was maybe a perfume bottle brought from Russia by Yulia?

All this says to me is that they haven't yet identified the item that caused the contamination in this couple. I am not convinced that they ever found the source of contamination for the Skripals.

I do think it's a valid question to ask if the Skripals were contaminated on purpose, which is a reasonable assumption, then what would the poisoner do with the items that were being used to store and/or make the novichok?

 

[Amonet]

They initially said they had taken a 'bad batch' of drugs and that there was no concern related to the Skipal case. Then Porton Down says Novichok, again.

That would have been a reasonable assumption at the time, though.

Even now it's not entirely unreasonable for investigators to ask if there's something about this couple that made them more likely to touch this contaminated item.

But I think it sounds like it's too soon to say for certain that it's related to their 'lifestyle'. Until you know for certain what the actual item is, how can you say that? And you've also got to take into consideration that there might be things in their home that have been touch-contaminated by them handling things after getting the poison on their hands.

 

[Hatfield]

It seems to me they are guessing - I don't think they have located the item that contaminated them. Same as they did not find exactly how the Skripals were given the stuff either.

JMO
Im with you right now.

I think they got contaninated with the bad luck of visiting Queen Elizabeth Gardens. The place described below which is the same place the original couple went. LE needs to go back there and take a better look around. Its only 1/4 mile from where the spy and daughter were found sick and dying.

All 4 people were there and the original 2 people fell sick 1/4 mile after visiting it. Something is still badly contaminated and I suspect it is in that location.

Sam Hobson, 29, a friend of the couple, described how on Saturday morning Sturgess fell ill and was taken to hospital. Later that morning Rowley also became sick.
Hobson said he and the couple spent time in Queen Elizabeth Gardens on Friday. “We were having a drink and chilling in the sun,” he said.
Wiltshire novichok poisoning investigated by counter-terror police

The map shows Queen Elizabeth Gardens is approximately 1/4 mile from the site where the Russian spy and his daughter were found poisoned.

 

[Hatfield]

Poisoned pair 'handled contaminated item'

This article explains a bit more why police think the couple handled a vial or syringe "because of their lifestyle".

When you read it carefully they are totally just guessing about the syringe or vial. How irresponsible is that.

Just tell the public you dont know yet how they came in contact with it. Good grief.

This is very scary. That latest couple was all over Amesbury and could have done their own spreading it around once they touched the stuff. I am sticking with them touching something at the Queen Elizabeth Gardens area.

I feel very bad for anyone living around Amesbury. How awful to have to be worried about this stuff being spread all over the place by random touching now from that latest couple and the original couple.

 

[dotr]

Wondering if the couple each used the same pen to sign for something, or if a pen fell from somone's hand, such as the previous poison victims and/or dropped by a first responder attending to them, LE, medics ect.? imo.

 

[Hatfield]

Wondering if the couple each used the same pen to sign for something, or if a pen fell from somone's hand, such as the previous poison victims and/or dropped by a first responder attending to them, LE, medics ect.? imo.

I first thought they would have had to touch the same object like that but now I am thinking only one probably touched it and that person was probably hanging onto the other person or holding hands and contaminated the other person.

Maybe a cab was used by the original people and these new people used the same cab? I suppose more people would have been sick by now if a cab is involved.

They really need to go back and try to replicate all the things the original couple could have touched and match it up to what these people touched.

What a scary situation. Maybe something in the "pub" referenced. What pub is that?

"As the police explained, Yulia arrived at Heathrow Airport from Russia on March 3 at 14:40. The next day from 9:15, Sergei Skripal’s car moved within the northern areas of Salisbury (not far from his house), and at 13:30 it headed towards the city center. At 13:40, the Skripals left the car at the parking lot of the Maltings shopping center and went to a pub.


At 14:20, the Skripals went to a restaurant called Zizzi, where they spent 1 hour and 15 minutes. 40 minutes after leaving the restaurant, at 16:15, they were found unconscious on a bench in the park."

Scotland Yard tells about Skripals’ movements on day of poisoning