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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Steven Morris and Mimi Ibrahim

Inquiry told of hunt for ‘ground zero’ in novichok poisoning of Sergei Skripal

Investigators in hazmat suits work beside a tent covering the bench in the Maltings shopping centre
Investigators secure the bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

A counter-terrorism police chief has described how hundreds of investigators and scientists painstakingly worked to trace “ground zero” – the spot where the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned with a nerve agent.

Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of the Met police’s counter-terrorism command, told an inquiry into the novichok poisonings that a restaurant, pub and a car were suspected before the door handle of Skripal’s home was pinpointed as the source of the poisoning almost two weeks after the Skripals fell ill.

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