My Moment in History: The Salisbury Poisonings is a five part series available from today (28th February) on BBC Sounds hosted by TV presenter and podcast host, Katie Piper.
Katie Piper:
“With the contributors I’ve talked to, they were everyday people getting on with their lives, until one moment changed everything, their lives were turned upside down in a way that is quite unimaginable for most people. I know how important it is to have a voice and be able to tell your side of the story so I hope through this podcast, I give that to the people that were involved in the poisonings.”
The podcast series revisits Sunday 4 March 2018, when former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, were found slumped and unresponsive on a bench in Salisbury. They’d been poisoned in an assassination attempt and as the authorities grappled with fears of contamination and searched for the culprits, the city became a crime scene.
Detective work by police would identify two officers from Russian military intelligence as the main suspects and a perfume bottle as the means of delivery of the nerve agent onto Mr Skripal’s front door handle. The deadly poison was identified as Novichok and in July a local woman, Dawn Sturgess died after coming into contact with a discarded bottle of perfume which, unknown to her, contained the poison.
In 2021 Priti Patel, the Home Secretary at the time announced a public inquiry to investigate the death of Dawn Sturgess who died in July 2018 following exposure to the nerve agent Novichok. The inquiry, which is ongoing was formally established in March 2022.
In each episode Katie talks to local people about how they were affected, what they did, and how, five years on, they and the city are beginning to recover. Three Russians are suspects in the poisonings and are still wanted by UK authorities. Russia has never accepted responsibility for the attack.
This series also hears from freelance Journalist John Sweeney, who has written about Russia and how the state operates.
John Sewwney:
“After the Salisbury Poisonings Britain kicked out some 20 odd diplomats as if this was some kind of effective punishment. All that means is that Vladimir Putin has to print 20 new diplomatic passports. There’s some reshuffling in his spy agencies. It’s an HR problem, that’s all.”
