Police officer hospitalised as Scotland Yard reveals nerve agent was used in Russian spy case

A police officer remains seriously ill in intensive care after being poisoned by a nerve agent when he came to the aid of a Russian spy targeted in Salisbury. The unnamed officer was one of the first on the scene on Sunday when double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia, were attacked by would-be assassins in shopping arcade in the city centre. He was initially treated in hospital as a precaution and then discharged, but his condition soon deteriorated and he was readmitted on Tuesday and taken into intensive care. The disclosure that a police officer is seriously ill following the nerve agent attack will add to growing pressure on the British government to take a hardline approach against Russia if state involvement is confirmed. Last night Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary described the events in Salisbury as "very troubling". He said: "If this does turn out to be in any way the result of hostile activity by another government, or directed, led, by another government, then the people of this country can be absolutely sure that the UK will respond robustly." CCTV dated approximately one week before the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal shows the former Russian spy purchasing goods in a Salisbury convenience store. Security sources said the substance was something that was only held in a "very small number of places" around the world, making it easier to identify where it might have come from. Mr Skripal, who spied for Britain in the 1990s, before moving here in 2010 as part of a prisoner exchange, remained in a critical condition in hospital last night, alongside his 33-year-old daughter. Investigators outside the Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury  Credit: Eddie Mulholland For The Telegraph  In a statement Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the head of national Counter Terrorism Policing, said: "This is being treated as a major incident involving attempted murder by the administration of a nerve agent. “We believe the two people who originally became unwell were the specific targets and are focused on identifying and finding those responsible. “Hundreds of detectives from the Counter Terrorism Policing Network have been deployed in relation to this investigation.” Video: Home Secretary gives update after crisis talks He added: "A police officer who was among the first responders also remains in hospital in a serious condition and is continuing to receive intensive care. We are keeping the Chief Constable in Wiltshire regularly updated in relation to our investigation." While detectives continued to hunt for the would be assassins, Whitehall sources said the fact a police officer had been injured ramped up the seriousness of the situation, with some directly laying the blame at Russia's door. One Whitehall source told the Telegraph there was now a widespread feeling in Government that "Putin's hands are all over this". A police officer in a protective suit and gas mask in Salisbury on Tuesday evening Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/LNP The source said: "It's one thing to for a former Russian spy to be struck down by this, but when it starts filtering out and affecting normal British people going about their day to day jobs, there's going to be tough questions asked of the Government in terms of its response. "There's an appetite among some of the cabinet that Britain can't just do nothing. A stand has to be taken." The incident has echoes of the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot dead in 1984 while standing outside the Libyan embassy in London. Colonel Sergei Skripal was given refuge in the UK as part of a spy swap Her murder led to a complete breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Sir Andrew Wood, who was Britain's Ambassador to Russia between 1995 and 2000, said the fact a police officer had been injured intensified matters. He told the Telegraph: "This makes the assassination attempt even more serious. If it is true that this is, in some fashion the Russian State, it obviously makes it even harder to believe the Russian State is worth anything or is to be trusted. "The fact they targeted his daughter, and that a policeman is seriously ill, makes it emotionally difficult, but it does not alter the fact that this was an attempted assassination on British soil." Police outside the Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury on Wednesday morning Credit: Andrew Matthews /PA Sir Andrew said the options diplomatically could involve expelling the Russian Ambassador to Britain. Marina Litvinenko, the widow of the murdered Russian dissident, Alexander, said: "It is awful. It is absolutely shocking. If the British authorities had taken my husband's case more seriously when it happened then maybe this would not have taken place. I didn't want this to happen again on British soil and now it has." Mr Skripal was convicted of spying for Britain in 2006 and was sentenced to 13-years in prison. But he was pardoned by the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, in 2010 and granted asylum in the UK as part of a prisoner exchange, which included the glamorous agent, Anna Chapman being returned to Moscow. Police outside the home of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury Credit: Eddie Mulholland for The Telegraph  Experts initially cast doubt on whether the Russians could have been behind the attack, because protocols signed during the prisoner exchange would have meant he was “off limits”. But one fellow political refugee claimed that Mr Skripal was still working in cyber security and was in regular contact with military intelligence officials at the Russian embassy. Valery Morozov, a former construction magnate who fled Russia after revealing corruption, said he had decided to steer clear of Mr Skripal because of his activities. He told Channel 4 News: “Frankly speaking I thought that this contact may be not very good for me because it could bring some questions from British officials.” It also emerged that the British agent who recruited Mr Skripal to work for MI6 in the 1990s has links to Christopher Steel, the intelligence agent who helped compile the infamous Donald Trump dossier. The agent now lives in Salisbury and that is why Mr Skripal moved to the Wiltshire city when he defected to Britain in 2010. As the police investigation widened locals in Salisbury were warned to seek immediate medical advice if they started to feel ill. Two women working in an office close to a restaurant where Mr Skripal had eaten shortly before taking ill, were rushed to hospital after becoming unwell yesterday lunchtime. Sergei Skrpial profile The Russian Embassy said it was "completely untrue" to suggest the country's special services were involved and criticised Mr Johnson for speaking "in such a manner as if the investigation was already over". A later statement added: "The Foreign Secretary’s strongly anti-Russian statement in Parliament yesterday looks more like an attempt to send the investigation upon a political track. "Although absolutely no facts were provided to the public, we see the issue being translated into the domain of Russia-UK relations, with an active support by the media." The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in nearby Porton Down, which has state-of-the-art equipment to look for trace amounts of substances, is believed to have been involved in examining what could have caused Mr Skripal and his daughter to fall ill. Mr Skripal was found along with his daughter on a bench in The Maltings in Salisbury after police were called by a concerned member of the public at around 4.15pm on Sunday. The pair did not have any visible injuries and were taken to Salisbury District Hospital, where they are being treated in intensive care. Officers subsequently "secured" a number of scenes - including the Zizzi restaurant on Castle Street and the Bishop's Mill pub in The Maltings. Police cordon in Salisbury on Tuesday Credit: Paul Grover for the Telegraph  At least two people left a contamination tent inside the cordon wearing protective suits and gas masks on Tuesday night. People could also be seen inside Zizzi's restaurant wearing protective gear and masks. Two police vans were parked outside Zizzi's restaurant on Castle Street early on Wednesday, blocking the windows, but the lights inside the Italian chain pizzeria were lit. Was deadly VX nerve agent used in Salisbury? Scientists from the government's chemical defence laboratory at Porton Down, just six miles from where Sergei Skripal was targeted in Salisbury, have been analysing the substance at the centre of the Russian spy attack. One theory being explored was that the substance could be the deadly nerve agent, VX, which was used last year in the murder of Kim Jong-nam - the estranged half brother of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Police have not confirmed which nerve agent was used in the attack.  The chemical was first developed by the British firm, ICI, in the 1950s, but was put to deadly use by Saddam Hussein in an attack against the Kurds in 1988. Kim Jong-nam was killed last February at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, when two women approached him and smeared cloths soaked with VX nerve agent across his face. Deadly toxins The fast acting toxin began to attack his nervous system and despite being able to alert officials, he was dead within 20 minutes. The United States formally concluded on Tuesday that North Korea ordered the murder of Kim Jong-nam with the VX nerve agent. VX, which is the most deadly of all nerve agents, was first developed in the 1950s and is a tasteless and odorless liquid, which can be fatal for humans on skin contact. It penetrates the skin and disrupts the transmission of nerve impulses, leading to a loss of consciousness, paralysis and eventually fatal respiratory failure. Alexander Perepilichnyy, who died in mysterious circumstances Credit: PA Counter terror police, who are now leading the investigation into the Salisbury poisonings, will also be examining the 2012 death of Russian whistleblower, Alexander Perepilichnyy, who died in mysterious circumstances. He was initially thought to have died of natural causes while out jogging but traces of a deadly chemical was later found in his stomach. 'Traitors will kick the bucket': How Putin threatened Russians double agents Vladimir Putin threatened that Russians who betrayed secrets to the West would die, during a television interview at the time of the Col Skripal spy swap. The Russian President’s threats came after a Russian spy ring was broken up in the US in 2010, leading to the exchange of agents held by Moscow, including Mr Skripal who had been convicted in 2006 of spying for the British. Russian President Vladimir Putin issued the threat on television Credit: Mikhail Svetlov /Getty Asked on Russian television at the time who might have betrayed the US spy ring, Mr Putin said: “Traitors will kick the bucket. Trust me. “These people betrayed their friends, their brothers in arms. Whatever they got in exchange for it, those 30 pieces of silver they were given, they will choke on them.” Col Skripal was living under own name in Salisbury after pardon Mr Skripal had not adopted a new identity and was living under his own name in Salisbury after being released in the 2010 spy swap, reports Ben Farmer. Another Russian, Igor Sutyagin, who came to Britain in the same exchange also retains his identity. Both had been pardoned after the swap by the then president, Dmitry Medvedev. Kier Giles, a Russia expert at the Chatham House think tank, said: “In the context of this particular spy swap, that does seem to be the norm. “They were living openly under their own names. They reached the conclusion, with or without advice from the British government, that it was safe to do so. They possibly thought the state pardon that they received under the president Medvedev was an additional indication that no one would be coming after them.” How the FSB deals with Russia's enemies with absolute impunity But he said the Medvedev pardon “would not hold much water when it comes to the FSB deciding what it wants to do about things”. In earlier Cold War incidents, Russian spies who defected to Britain were given entirely new identities and lived in hiding.

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