A police officer who was poisoned as a result of the Salisbury attack has said he felt like his “life was being taken away slowly” as he battled the nerve agent
Speaking at a summit in London, he described how his day had started “very normally” when he overheard radio chatter about two people found slumped on a bench.
“At this stage we didn’t know what had happened, it could have been alcohol or drug related, or a medical emergency”
He told how one of Sergei Skripal’s neighbours had a narrow escape, after police stopped her from entering his house hours after the attack.
Officers obtained his name and address from his wallet on 4 March 2018, and wanted to check whether anyone else needed medical attention
Mr Bailey said that investigators asked a neighbour, who had a door key because she sometimes fed the cat, to open up the house with a police escort
But when they were about to go in, a DC googled Sergei Skripal's name and they realised he was a former Russian double agent
"We called the officer who was about to go into the house with the neighbour and said ‘just don’t do it, something’s not right about this at all’,” Mr Bailey said
"I think about what could have happened to her if that chain of events had happened literally two minutes later"
Police still didn't know the incident was a poisoning, or involved nerve agents, but took precautions by wearing forensic suits, gloves, masks and goggles when they entered the house
Mr Bailey opened the door and unknowingly got his glove "saturated" with novichok
Mr Bailey still didn't know about the novichok as his symptoms set in, including pinprick pupils, sweating and later hallucinations, impaired vision and vomiting
He was sent away from hospital with mild symptoms, then taken into ICU a day later, where he remained for 2.5 weeks
He was targeted by conspiracy theorists, including some who accused him of being the person who poisoned Sergei Skripal
"People couldn’t accept that I was just a normal copper doing my job and it just happened...in the absence of facts they could accept, they made up their own.”
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A local prosecutor told me the incident happened at around 5am local time (4am BST) today
The lorry was parked in the Transmarck logistics area, before continuing its journey towards England, and started moving while the boy was trying to board
“CCTV footage from the parking area and the testimony of the security guard who witnessed the incident indicated that the driver did not notice the accident and did not stop,” the prosecutor said
The driver of the lorry is believed to be Bulgarian. The investigation continues.
The deputy senior national coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing told a summit:
“Incel in and of itself is not a terrorist ideology. You become a terrorist when you cross a threshold in terms of your actions and it’s about what you do or intend to do to further that cause”
The officer added: “The attack in Plymouth wasn’t driven by an ideology, albeit that individual was engaged in some kind of incel thinking. That doesn’t make him a terrorist.”
Classification of attacks is based on the definition of terrorism in the Terrorism Act 2000
Britain First hailed a "stupendous victory" and vowed to field candidates in upcoming elections
“Although our street activities will continue, this day marks the birth of BF as a traditional political party that will take the fight to the establishment through the ballot box.”
Britain First was previously a political party 2010-17 and was fined over £44k for electoral law breaches in that period
They are not a bar to registration, nor are convictions for Golding and the party's treasurer. The Electoral Commission does not assess policies/views
Police have appealed for drivers to stop calling them about queues at petrol stations as shortages continue
Some forces are starting to draw up contingency plans for refuelling vehicles but leaders say there has not yet been an impact on response to crime independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
The Independent understands that individual police forces are responding to issues and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) is not yet coordinating any operations or logistics for police vehicles
Different forces appear to be in different situations, depending on supply
The Metropolitan Police said it has a “dedicated fuel supply which remains robust” and there were no issues supplying vehicles with fuel
But West Midlands Police, one of UK’s largest forces, was meeting with partners today to discuss "future position and any contingency plans"
The story was sparked by an FOI by Press Association's excellent @MikeRDrummond on the cost of Home Office social media posts trying to deter migrants
It included screengrabs of the ads in its response where the 'On the Move website link can be seen if you zoom in
It was a struggle to get the grabs as the Home Office didn't publish the response on thr FOI section of its website
I asked the FOI department for it and it kicked me to the press office. The press office sent me spending figures but cropped the FOI to exclude the grabs