Death of Dawn Sturgess

''See also Poisoning of Sergei Skripal, Sergei Skripal, Novichok, Alleged poisoning of Alexei Navalny

Amesbury incident
''See Talk: Incident In Amesbury

Wiltshire County Coroner Inquest into Sturgess's Death

 * Senior coroner David Ridley led a brief hearing on the death of Dawn Sturgess, but said the official cause won’t be given until further tests are completed. He adjourned the proceedings until January to allow time for police inquiries to continue. - Portland Press Herald, July 19, 2018
 * The investigation and inquest into Dawn Sturgess’ death has been suspended for a further period of six months and the Senior Coroner has adjourned the Pre-Inquest Review hearing until Friday, October 18 2019 at 10am. SomersetLive, - April 4, 2019
 * THE HOUDINI TRICK AND THE SKRIPAL CASE — CORONER RIDLEY’S ESCAPE FROM THE EVIDENCE OF THE ONE WITNESS WHO KNOWS THE TRUTH, SERGEI SKRIPAL - John Helmer, January 15, 2020
 * BRITISH CORONER HIDES BRITISH POLICE EVIDENCE IN THE NOVICHOK CASE, AS BBC PREPARES TO BROADCAST NEW LIES - John Helmer, Dances with Bears, June 20, 2020
 * The Wiltshire police investigation, including blood and toxicology tests carried out at Salisbury Hospital, where Sturgess and her partner Charles Rowley were admitted on June 30, 2018, showed the couple had ingested Class A drugs, the potency and combination of which were the cause of Sturgess’s death. In the coroner’s files too, there  is evidence of police arrests of drug dealers in a Salisbury area network which supplied several of Sturgess’s and Rowley’s associates who were interrogated by the police, and who admitted they were together before Sturgess’s collapse. 


 * Coroner criticised over Novichok inquest ruling into Dawn Sturgess death - Craig Cairns, The National, July 25, 2020
 * ... they have decided David Ridley, the senior coroner for Wiltshire, does not have to investigate “Russian state responsibility” and the “source” of the Novichok when conducting an inquest into the death of Dawn Sturgess.

Results of Post Mortems
According to Helmer's reporting two PMs were carried out on the 9th and 17th of July. Sturgess's death was recorded on the 8th. The first autopsy has the cause of death as “post cardiac arrest hypoxic brain injury and intracerebral haemorrhage”. A subsequent autopsy was carried out on 17th July by another coroner and in the presence of OPCW officials, who reportedly collected tissue samples. The findings were not signed off until 29 November, 2018: “Ia post cardiac arrest hypoxic brain injury and intracerebral haemorrhage; Ib Novichok toxicity”.
 * THE LIE THAT KILLED DAWN STURGESS – AND WHY IT TOOK THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT FOUR MONTHS TO PERSUADE TWO DOCTORS, PHILIP LUMB AND GUY RUTTY, TO SIGN THEIR NAMES TO NOVICHOK - John Helmer, Dances with Bears, May 18, 2021


 * Update Sept 2022, Helmer: Fresh source information now indicates there was only one post-mortem; that Lumb had been commissioned to undertake it by County Coroner Ridley; but that officials in London intervened to delay Lumb and put Rutty in charge. He had been Lumb's academic superior earlier in their careers; Rutty had more experience than Lumb in dealing with chemical warfare agents, sources claim.


 * Normal procedures would imply that a post-mortem would have been carried out on the day following the death.

---

Helmer spoke to experts:


 * They believe the record of cardiac arrest leading to brain death is proof that Novichok toxicity was not (repeat not) the cause of Sturgess’s death. According to one of these experts, sumarising his colleagues’ assessments, “Novichok leads to low acetylcholine esterase levels, and the victim essentially drowns, i.e. lungs fill with fluid. Lung fluid would have been detected in the first PM, unless the experts at Salisbury drained the lungs as part of their treatment.” Another expert on organophosphate poisoning, who works in hospital emergency wards,  says that nerve agents cause paralysis of the lungs, so asphyxia is the usually given as the cause of death. He too expresses surprise at the report of cardiac arrest.

Hypoxia after cardiac arrest is a noted consequence of opioid overdose, see for instance also Hypoxic Brain Injury Following Heroin Overdose.

According to a Daily Mail interview with another family member, Dawn Sturgess's mother had criticized the Hospital and Police: [Caroline] is annoyed because for days the police told her that Dawn had a heart attack. --Diagonal (talk) 10:40, 19 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Novichok Inquest to be stopped - John Helmer, Dances with Bears, June 1, 2021
 * THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT HAS TRAPPED ITSELF BETWEEN TWO CORONERS, TWO PATHOLOGISTS AS CREMATION FORM NUMBER 6 EXPOSES THE NOVICHOK LIE - John Helmer, Dances with Bears, June 6, 2021
 * Its not straightforward to follow this and perhaps it overreaches in its conclusion. As far as I can make out: There should be on record a 'form 6' necessary for the coroner to release the body to funeral directors. Authorities don't deny that a form 6 would have to be provided in the circumstances and also haven't made it public. If it did record the cause of death as novichok toxicity, then there wouldn't have been much reason for the subsequent 4 month delay in signing off the post-mortem results. There was such a delay, so presumably, what was recorded on the form for cause of death does not match. --Diagonal (talk) 13:45, 7 June 2021 (UTC)

Coordinated Response to Inquiry

 * See also Poisoning_of_Sergei_Skripal

Priti Patel announced that a public inquiry will be held (commencing Feb 25th 2022) and the inquest will be adjourned thereupon. Documents submitted by Wilts Police to the Inquest show that is under direction from Government Legal Department to avoid inadeverdent disclosure of sensitive material. They will comply with Operation Verbasco,  the  Counter Terrorism  Policing (Metropolitan & Thames Valley Police) response to the Inquest into the death of Dawn Sturgess: The Operation Verbasco team are assisting Wiltshire Police in their disclosure exercise, which  will follow the same process, and have dedicated significant  resource to setting up the relevant infrastructure to assist Wiltshire Police to provide relevant disclosure to the Coroner in a manner which does not harm national security.


 * Operation VERBASCO: The skeleton under the veil is flat-footed - British government's Novichok operation moves into new coverup stage - John Helmer, Dances With Bears, December 13, 2021
 * Home secretary puts secrecy order on Salisbury inquiry - Duncan Gardham, Sky News, November 11, 2022
 * A hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice, ahead of a public inquiry, was told that there is so much "sensitive" material to consider that a date for the hearings will not be set until next spring. Andrew O'Connor KC, for the inquiry said that a restriction order would normally be made by the chairman in a "transparent" way, having heard submissions from "core participants". "A restriction notice, by contrast, is essentially an instruction from a government minister made without consultation," he added, addressing the chairman. "In most - some would say all - cases it ought to be you and not the secretary of state who takes the decision as to what evidence can be adduced in open proceedings, and what material must remain in closed." However, he said that the restriction notice covers "only a small set of documents which represent an extremely small proportion of the total number of documents that have been provided, or are being provided, to the inquiry legal team by His Majesty's government." It will not prevent the chairman from considering the material during closed hearings. So far, only 40 documents of the 28,000 disclosed to the inquiry by the government and police have been passed to lawyers for the Sturgess family.


 * THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT’S PUBLIC INQUIRY INTO NOVICHOK IS BROADCASTING WITH A 5-MINUTE CENSORSHIP DELAY - John Helmer, Dances With Bears, November 11, 2022
 * BRITISH GOVERNMENT’S NOVICHOK INQUIRY REVEALS THAT ITS NOVICHOK CASE OFFICERS ARE ALSO THE GOVERNMENT’S UKRAINE WARFIGHTERS - Dances With Bears, November 15, 2022

"Public" Inquiry into the Death of Dawn Sturgess

 * Dawn Sturgess Inquiry website
 * Preliminary Hearing 15 July Transcript (pdf)
 * Restriction Order Ruling (pdf)
 * JOINT SUBMISSIONS OF THE METROPOLITAN POLICE SERVICE AND THAMES VALLEY POLICE FOR THE PRELIMINARY INQUIRY HEARING ON 11 NOVEMBER 2022 (pdf)
 *  In its OPEN position  statement, Op  Verbasco explained  that  it  would  be necessary  to  protect  certain  aspects  of  police  methodology  and  tactics  in  respect  of  the investigation of matters of national security...
 * Although the preparation for such an application is well under way, there is still a substantial amount of work to be done before the application can be made, including liaison with each of the “equity holders” within policing, so as to ensure that the scope of the application accurately reflects the underlying sensitivities...
 * The nature and extent of the national security concerns which arise in the context of this Inquiry necessitate extensive  and carefully developed  security  arrangements.  These arrangements come at a significant time-cost and expense, and maintaining the security of sensitive material which is required in the environs of the OPEN hearings will not be without its challenges, whether those hearings are held in London or Salisbury...


 * SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILY FOR OPEN PRELIMINARY HEARING ON 24 MARCH 2023 - March 13, 2023 (pdf)
 * The family  readily  accept  there  are  a  considerable  number  of  documents  and  they contain  some  very  sensitive  information.  But  it  is  impossible  to  understand  why  it requires more than 6 years to identify sensitive material in relevant documents. Other national security related inquiries have proceeded to CP disclosure,   via RO applications, far more quickly, e.g. see the Manchester Arena Inquiry...


 * Transcript: Pre Inquiry Hearing into the Death of Dawn Sturgess - March 24, 2023 (pdf)
 * Government defends ‘exceptional’ delays in Salisbury poisonings inquiry - Guernsey Press, March 24, 2023
 * Novichok death inquiry likely delayed to next autumn - BBC News, March 25, 2023
 * The previous inquest into her death was converted into a public inquiry to allow it to have access to top secret intelligence which will be considered in private. Lawyers acting on behalf of the government have defended the "exceptional" disclosure delays at Friday's hearing, saying sensitive information has been found in more than 1,000 documents.


 * THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT’S NOVICHOK SEQUEL, THE STURGESS DEATH INQUIRY, ISSUES A NEW SECRECY VETO FOR POLICE, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS & SPIES - John Helmer, Dances with Bears, March 27, 2023
 * The veto will cover police records; closed-circuit television (CCTV) films; laboratory reports by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down; Salisbury District Hospital patient admission and clinical test results; witness testimony; coroner’s cremation forms... 

September 6, 2023 Preliminary Hearing
 * Transcripts and submissions of public session published here
 * LIES AND PRETENCE IN NEW LONDON NOVICHOK HEARING - John Helmer, Dances with Bears, September 10, 2023

Charlie Rowley

 * Novichok victim Charlie Rowley asks Putin's man 'did you kill my girlfriend' - The Mirror, April 6, 2019
 * Kept in the dark: ‘Novichok’ poisoning survivor tells Russian ambassador he got NO info from UK govt RT, April 6, 2019

Analysis

 * 'Curiouser and Curiouser': Salisbury, the Skripals & the epic failure of the British Fairy Tale - George Galloway, RT, July 3, 2018
 * British Government Peddles Warmed Over Novichok Muck - Moon of Alabama, July 4, 2018
 * The Amesbury Mystery - Craig Murray, July 5, 2018
 * Novichok Part Deux: A Fusion of Media, Government & Military 21 Wire, July 10, 2018
 * Nothing about the latest 'novichok' attacks adds up Kenny Coyne, Morning Star July 9, 2018
 * CCTV, 12 DAYS WHEN POLICE FAILED TO FIND ‘NOVICHOK BOTTLE’ – AND THE QUESTIONS NO MSM ARE ASKING Skwawkbox July 13, 2018
 * Anti-Russia campaign revived in UK with alleged discovery of “novichok” in perfume bottle WSWS July 17, 2018


 * WILTSHIRE CORONER CANNOT RULE NOVICHOK AS CAUSE OF DEATH – THERESA MAY’S SKRIPAL STORY FAILS BOTTLE TEST John Helmer, January 22, 2019
 * The Wiltshire county coroner David Ridley admitted this week that he held a 14-minute hearing into the death of Dawn Sturgess, alleged victim of a Russian Novichok attack last July, but after six months of further investigations by police, military, intelligence and toxicology experts,  he still cannot hold a formal inquest and decide what caused her death.This admission by the coroner, the scheduling of a new coroner’s court hearing on April 15, and the likelihood that this too will be adjourned, now threaten the British Government’s narrative


 * NOVICHOK FULL O’ NUTS — IN THE CASE OF SERGEI SKRIPAL POLICE COMMISSIONER ANGUS MACPHERSON LIFTS THE LID John Helmer, January 27, 2019
 * In Memory of Dawn Sturgess Rob Slane, July 2, 2019
 * SKRIPAL UPDATE – ENGLISH CORONER RUNS OUT OF LEGAL CAMOUFLAGE, AND GENUINE EVIDENCE, FOR POSTPONING INQUEST INTO DAWN STURGESS DEATH; SPOKESMAN ATTEMPTS LYING TO PRESS - John Helmer, October 14, 2019
 * An Update on the Inquest Into the Death of Dawn Sturgess - Rob Slane, October 17, 2019
 * No Inquest for Dawn Sturgess - Craig Murray, October 18, 2019
 * SKRIPAL-STURGESS CASE CORONER BACKS DOWN – NEW INQUEST HEARING ANNOUNCED FOR NEXT FEBRUARY, NO NEW POLICE EVIDENCE ACKNOWLEDGED - John Helmer, November 6, 2019
 * SKRIPAL SHOWDOWN, NOVICHOK PAYDAY — LONDON LAWYER THREAT TO CALL SERGEI AND YULIA SKRIPAL TO TESTIFY IN OPEN COURT FOR THE FIRST TIME - John Helmer, May 21, 2020
 * BRITISH CORONER HIDES BRITISH POLICE EVIDENCE IN THE NOVICHOK CASE, AS BBC PREPARES TO BROADCAST NEW LIES - John Helmer, Dances with Bears, June 3, 2020
 * Newly retrieved Wiltshire police evidence shows that before the Novichok story there was an investigation of criminal drug dealing at the Sturgess-Rowley apartment on the day and night before their admission to hospital; of the takeover of the apartment by drug dealers in what the local police call cuckooing; and of a party of drug dealers and users at which one of those present later accused another of supplying bad drugs and tried to strangle him.


 * JAMES HASLAM, SERGEI SKRIPAL’S AND DAWN STURGESS’S DOCTOR, ADMITS HE ISN’T SURE NOVICHOK WAS THEIR POISON - John Helmer, Dances with Bears, June 8, 2020
 * How did the Skripal Novichok attack kill Dawn Sturgess? - Tim Norman, Propaganda in Focus, November 14, 2022
 * ‘Russian chemical weapons’ – English drug dealers. A failed cover-up: The work of British Intelligence - Dissonant Notes, March 26, 2022