Police dealing with the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury had to rely on Wikipedia for information on how to deal with the deadly nerve agent, the inquiry into the attack has heard.
The inquiry is looking at whether an “innocent” British woman died after she was caught in the “crossfire of an illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt”.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after being exposed to the Russian nerve agent which was left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018.
It followed the attempted murders of former spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and then-police officer Nick Bailey, who were poisoned in nearby Salisbury in March that year.
They were poisoned when members of a Russian military intelligence squad are believed to have smeared the nerve agent on Mr Skripal’s door handle.
All three survived, as did Ms Sturgess’s boyfriend, Charlie Rowley, who had unwittingly given her the bottle containing the killer nerve agent.
Disclosed documents show public health bodies were concerned that “secrecy, withholding of relevant information and an over-centralisation of decision-making in central government hampered the response” to the attacks and in the early stages it was “very difficult” to access credible information, said Michael Mansfield KC, counsel on behalf of Ms Sturgess’s family.
He added: “Documents paint a picture of some concern – they describe organisational disputes and disagreements over tactical and strategic decision-making, and a lack of clarity on how to secure essential scientific advice; there are references to public health officials being risk averse and too slow to offer advice and make decisions.”
Advice on dry cleaning potentially-contaminated clothing “took up considerable time” even at a national level, he said.
“(One) report records that the most comprehensive source of information to local police was Wikipedia”, he added.
The perfume bottle carrying Novichok that fatally poisoned Ms Sturgess contained "enough poison to kill thousands of people", the inquiry was told.
Mr O'Connor said: "A particularly shocking feature of Dawn's death is that she unwittingly applied the poison to her own skin.
"She was entirely unaware of the mortal danger she faced, because the highly toxic liquid had been concealed - carefully and deliberately concealed - inside a perfume bottle.
"Moreover, the evidence will suggest that this bottle - which we shall hear contained enough poison to kill thousands of people - must earlier have been left somewhere in a public place, creating the obvious risk that someone would find it and take it home.
The inquiry will look into whether the UK authorities took appropriate precautions in early 2018 to protect Mr Skripal from being attacked.
Mr O'Connor said the fact that Mr Skripal was a former senior GRU officer living in the UK "arguably placed him at some risk".
He added that Mr Skripal recognised this himself in a police interview in 2018, in which he said: "I am a very important man of special services. Still now I know a lot of Russian secrets, top secrets, they are really dangerous for Russian special services."
The inquiry will also examine whether the poisoning of Ms Sturgess could have been prevented.
It was previously revealed that the Skripals would not give evidence at the inquiry amid fears for their safety.
It comes as Wiltshire Police said people in Salisbury city centre can expect to see an increased police presence for the duration of the hearing.
They added that there is "no current intelligence to suggest there is any risk to the wider public".
The Dawn Sturgess Inquiry, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Lord Hughes of Ombersley, opened at the Guildhall in Salisbury and will continue until December.
