Medic assumed drug overdose, Russian spy poisoning inquiry hears

The first paramedic to treat a former Russian spy and his daughter after they were poisoned with a nerve agent tried administering a drug to treat an opioid overdose, an inquiry has heard.

Ian Parsons gave first aid treatment to Yulia and Sergei Skripal in the Maltings area of Salisbury on 4 March 2018 after they were attacked with Novichok.

Mr Parsons said he heard over the VHF radio a female was “having a seizure”.

He told the inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess the area was “well-known” in the community for its population of homeless people.

Ms Sturgess, 44, died four months after the attack on the Skripals after being accidentally exposed to Novichok eight miles away in Amesbury, Wiltshire.

It was concealed inside a perfume bottle which had been found by her partner and given to her a gift.

Mr Parsons, of the South Western Ambulance Service, said when he checked Ms Skripal she had a “slow heart rate” and was “foaming at the mouth”.

Her father was sitting just to the side.

“The area of the Maltings underneath Sainsbury’s is well-known in the local community as where homeless people reside and potentially some illicit drugs take place there,” he said.

“Previously to the incident in Salisbury we had communication sent through to us that there was a highly toxic batch of fentanyl doing the rounds throughout the UK.”

Mr Parsons told fellow paramedic Louise Woods to administer Naloxone to Mr Skripal, a drug to reverse opioid overdose, but the medicine “did nothing”.

Ms Woods said Mr Skripal was conscious and sat “bolt upright” on a bench.

“He did not recognise my presence at all,” she said.

Ms Woods said Mr Skripal had vomited and she had checked the area for drug paraphernalia, but never considered he might have been deliberately poisoned.

“Not in a million years would I have thought about chemical (poisoning) in Salisbury,” she said.

As he was moved into the ambulance “his jaw suddenly started to clench down”, she said.

“He started to make groaning sounds. It was like he was in pain but he could not tell us he was in pain.”

Ms Woods added Mr Skripal's presentation was “very odd” although he “remained effectively inwardly very stable”.

Dr James Haslam, a consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, cared for the Skripals from 5 March onwards.

He said Ms Skripal’s condition was “worse than her father”.

Upon arrival she was unable to breathe on her own, and was subsequently intubated and given mechanical ventilation.

When Mr Skripal arrived he was breathing for himself, but as time passed he too was unable to breathe on his own.

“We couldn’t record their temperature because it was that low, and that’s despite active warming,” he said.

The inquiry continues.