Dawn Sturgess Inquiry: report published
4th December 2025
On 4th December 2025 the Chair of the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry, Lord Hughes, published the report of his inquiry.
Lord Hughes concluded that:
- Dawn Sturgess died on 8 July 2018 as a result of being poisoned by Novichok.
- The same nerve agent had been used in an attempt to assassinate Sergei Skripal (a former GRU officer) on 4 March 2018 in Salisbury.
- The assassination attempt had been carried out by members of the Russian GRU and authorised at the highest in Russia, by President Putin.
- The GRU members had recklessly discarded the bottle of Novichok which they had used to carry out the attack. The bottle – disguised as perfume – was picked up by Dawn’s boyfriend and given to her. She had put its contents onto her skin and been fatally poisoned.
- Dawn’s injuries were unsurvivable.
- There were no steps that the British state ought to have taken that would avoided the poisonings of Mr Skripal or of Dawn.
The Inquiry’s report can be read here.
John Beggs KC and James Berry KC appeared for the Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police.
Bridget Dolan KC appeared for South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.
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