Thread by @HisBlakeness

1/ Another Skripal thread.

From the ludicrous to the impossible.

2/ I've been busy so forgive me if these points have been made better elsewhere. This is crazy.

The Police have provided us with some CCTV images and claimed timings for the #doorknobdesperados, just as they previously did with Sergei Skripal's movements.

There's a problem.

3/ The problem is fairly fundamental:

It doesn't appear that Sergei, or Julia, even had an opportunity to touch their own doorknob!

From the original Police timeline here: news.met.police.uk/news/renewed-a… we see that Skripal was headed out of town in his BMW at 09:15

Here's the route

4/ Where was he going?

At 11:46 a train from Waterloo arrives in Salisbury. The Police issue an image of the #doorknobdesperados at Salisbury station at 11:48. Ten minutes later another image shows them in Winton Road, close to Christie Miller Road where Skripal lives/lived

5/ By 13:05 the deed is done and they are heading back to the station - from east to west along Fisherton street. It's strange they are headed that way, because it seems they headed into the town centre first - a significant and seemingly unnecessary detour.

6/ The Police seem to hint that it was to plant the bottle of Novichok in the charity bins in Catherine Street (why?!). Google maps say this journey, returning to the station via Fisherton street (where they were CCTV'd - but strangely not on the way into town) takes 45 mins

7/ Spetznatz super-villians could undoubtedly do it in less.

But where's Sergei all this time? Spotted on CCTV? Nope? Any eyewitnesses? Nope

8/ His BMW is spotted at 13:30 returning along Devizes Road heading back into town. Devizes Road heads into town from the North West, while he left at 9:15 to the North East. Where has he been?

He's been away 4 hours 15 minutes. Where? Why?

9/ It would be fairly normal when your only child is visiting you from thousands of miles away that you'd want to treat her a little. Show her the sights, maybe visit friends. The countryside around Salisbury is lovely.

Why not go to Stonehenge for example?

10/ Or you could carry on to Avebury where they have an even bigger stone circle. A nice two hour journey that would take your through Devizes where the Special Branch of Wiltshire Police are based. Maybe pick up DS Nick Bailey who would be based there? Good guy to have around.

11/ Or you could combine some of these with a trip to more exotic places. On the way out of town along London Road you're headed straight for those nice people at Porton Down. Only 26 Minutes.

12/ Or only a little further to visit the barracks of the Royal Tank Regiment. Why the RTR? Because Skripal's handler Pablo Miller was an Officer in the RTR, and reportedly still lives in the area.

13/ We don't know where he went.

But the point is whichever option they took Skripal, and Julia, were out of town when the #doorknobdesperados came a-knockin'. So to get poisoned by the doorknob he'd have to head straight back home when he got back into town.

Did he?

14/ It seems not.

Only 10 mins after being spotted headed to town along Devizes Road he's spotted at 13:40 parking his car in the upper level of Sainsbury's Carpark in the Maltings Shopping centre

news.met.police.uk/news/renewed-a…

He hasn't returned home. He hasn't touched the doorknob

15/ They then go to the pub, some say they feed the ducks, but they definitely dine in Zizzi's restaurant at 14:20. By that time the Doorknob Killers are long gone - escaping back to London on the and spotted at the train station at 13:50.

16/ The Skripals leave Zizzi's restaurant at 15:35 in an agitated state. At 16:15 they are comatose on the bench. Did they sprint back to the house, touch the doorknob (both of them) and sprint back? Seems unlikely.

The claimed assassination plot seems Mission Highly Improbable

17/ Then there's the metadata mystery. There's always a metadata mystery.

18/ Wiltshire Police have released some images of the Doorknob Killers, including some CCTV images.

web.archive.org/web/2018090611…

Quite a few of these raise questions.

19/ For example we have the two images of Petrov and Boshirov (both happen to be Russian actor's names). Accoirding to the They seem to have been taken in the same place at *exactly* the same second: Friday 2 March 2018 16:22:43. Yet neither one appears in each other's picture.

20/ It's possible that they went through separate aisles in Gatwick (but why?) and that the two aisles are absolutely identical and it just happens that they passed under two separate CCTV cameras by walking at exactly the same speed ...

It's possible. Just.

21/ But the metadata tells us another more confusing story.
exif.tools/https://www.wi…
exif.tools/https://www.wi…

In that story Petrov passes beneath the camera at 18:43:50, while Boshirov passes through two minutes or so later at 18:46:30.

That's more logical. But. Get this.

22/ The metadata gives a different date: Thursday 3rd May 2018.

23/ To be clear the metadata doesn't seem to be of the original CCTV image. There's no camera make, for example, as one would expect for an original camera image. It could well be the Police are looking at these images from a central command post, so no camera make may be in it.

24/ It could well be that these are the dates where the image was originally found at Police HQ.

BUT the times they past the camera NOT matching makes sense, while passing at the same second (in what looks like the same spot) doesn't.

25/ And there's others

Image name | Police Claimed Date | Metadata Create Date

CCTV4 | Sunday 4 March 2018 11:48:20 | Wednesday 2 May 2018 09:00:50
CCTV6 | Sunday 4 March 2018 13:05:00 | Wednesday 9 May 2018 09:00:46
...

26/
CCTV7 | Sunday 4 March 2018 13:08:00 | Thursday 10 May 2018 17:41:58
CCTV8 | Sunday 4 March 2018 13:50:00 | Wednesday 2 May 2018 09:20:58

All very curious.

27/
Dear Police,

You know the public is difficult and suspicious. Thanks for leaving some metadata in, but why not include the "original CCTV" images and their metadata to stop "conspiracy nutcases" like myself thinking you're full of it?

Thanks.

A Concerned Citizen

28/ Back to the timeline. The Police say our villains "left Salisbury and returned to Waterloo Station, arriving at approximately 4.45pm and boarded the London Underground at approximately 6.30pm to London Heathrow."

This is Sunday 4th March, not early May, if you were wondering

29/ Pedants like me may query the timing. On Sundays' Salisbury-Waterloo trains arrive at 59 minutes past the hour, so they either had to be on the 15:59 or the 16:59. Most of the trains on that line seem to be arriving on time, so why there's a discrepancy isn't clear:

30/ Whatever. The point being it doesn't give them any time to get back to Bow in East London, where their hotel is. It's 34 minutes each way by public transport, and 40 minutes each way walking. Now look at the last image of them going through Heathrow.

31/ How did Petrov collect his bag? Boshirov has the rucksack (reeking of Novichok) they had in Salisbury, but now he has another bag too

The Police say "They travelled to the City Stay Hotel in Bow Road, East London, where they stayed on Friday, 2 March, and Saturday, 3 March."

32/ No mention of collecting their bags from Bow on the 4th. But there they have them. Their arrival photos show them with them too. If they didn't have them in Salisbury, and they didn't return to their hotel, where did they get them from?

Oh. One more thing.

33/
Remember when the head of GCHQ leaves the day Trump was elected? He knew his part in Russiagate would be exposed.

Skripal was poisoned on Sunday 4th March 2018.

Curious that the Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police leaves the next day on Monday 5th March 2018.