Cops hunt blonde woman seen on CCTV 20 mins before ex-Russian spy spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia were poisoned

A BLONDE woman with a red handbag captured on CCTV 20 minutes before ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found poisoned was being hunted yesterday.

The footage showed the young woman walking beside an older man not far from the bench where the stricken pair were discovered.

Initially it was thought the film was of former double agent Skripal and Yulia, who were out having a meal in Salisbury, Wilts.

But one witness who had seen the pair hours before they collapsed insisted Yulia was not blonde but had reddish brown hair.

Skripal, 66, and Yulia, 33, were yesterday critically ill in hospital as counter-terror officers took charge of the inquiry.

They are investigating a theory that a Kremlin assassin may have spiked the pair’s drinks in a pub.

Officers yesterday took CCTV from inside The Mill.

They had gone into The Mill pub following a meal in a Zizzi restaurant.

What we know so far:

• Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on Sunday
• Police say they were deliberately targeted with a rare nerve agent
• Cops cordoned off his house and the grave of his wife and son fearing others could be exposed to the poison
• The first Wiltshire cop on the scene is also ill in hospital - but hopes were raised for his recovery now he is awake and talking 
• A blonde woman with a red handbag is being hunted after being caught on CCTV minutes before the hit
• Cops say the poison may have been slipped into a gift Yulia brought from Moscow
• Spooks also believe the Russians may have had their drinks spiked in a pub or a Zizzi's restaurant
• Theresa May has vowed revenge on Putin over the 'hit'
• Russian state TV warned 'traitor' double-agents they are not safe in the UK
• It was claimed Yulia Skripal may have been poisoned after calling for Putin to be jailed on Facebook as doctors reveal her fight for life
• It was revealed Sergei's MI6 contact had links to poisoned ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko

The pub is yards from the bench where retired Colonel Skripal and Yulia were found doubled up in pain and vomiting.

Bio-terrorism experts played down fears that the pair were targeted with radioactive poison like the polonium-210 used to assassinate ex-KGB officer Alexander ­Litvinenko in London in 2006.

A chemical poison like thallium is believed more likely.

Last night chemical teams in hazardous materials suits were ­dispatched to an ambulance station in Amesbury, Wilts, believed to be connected to the poisoning.

Skripal, who worked in Russian military intelligence, was jailed in Moscow in 2006 for selling secrets to MI6.

He is said to have revealed the identities of Russian agents.

He was freed in 2010 as part of a swap for captured Russian spies and came to the UK, settling in Salisbury.

But he is said to have feared that henchmen of Russia’s President Putin were still determined to exact revenge.

On Sunday he and Yulia, who is thought to have been visiting from her home in Moscow, arrived at Zizzi at around 1.30pm.

They ate starters, seafood risotto and drank white wine and water.

Skripal lost his temper after being forced to wait 40 minutes for his main course.

A chef said: “He was very angry and being very rude. He was smartly dressed and had a thick Russian accent but he was behaving like an a******e.”

The chef, who said Yulia had “shoulder length reddish brown hair”, added: “He was waving his hands and banging the table. She barely said a word.”

The chef said their food could not have been contaminated but admitted drinks were vulnerable.

He added: “If he’s been poisoned, it definitely wasn’t in the food.

“No one came up to their table during the meal.

“There’s a possibility something could have been put in their drinks because they are made at the bar by the front door.

"They are left there and then carried over to the tables by the waiters. But it would be difficult to know which drinks are going to which table.

“I don’t believe anything ­happened in the restaurant.”

Skripal and Yulia left Zizzi at around 2.30pm and went to the pub.

The CCTV footage, taken by a gym’s security cameras, shows an older man walking with the blonde with the red bag at 3.47pm.

It was 28 minutes before a 999 call from a member of the public who found Skripal and Yulia unconscious on a bench outside The Maltings shopping centre.

A witness said he saw them slumped on the bench.

He added: “There was a man on the bench with his head between his legs being sick.

“I couldn’t see the woman ­properly, she was on the floor at the other person’s feet.”

Professor Alastair Hay, an expert on chemical weapons, said Skripal and Yulia’s blood, saliva and urine will be tested for traces of toxins.

But he said if the cause was “more unusual” results might not be expected for several days.

Skripal suffered a series of family tragedies after he was exiled to the UK.

Wife Liudmila died from cancer in 2012 and in the past two years he lost his older brother and 43-year-old son Alexandr.

Last night The Times reported the deaths of his wife and son will also form part of the police probe.

Alexandr was said to have died from liver failure on holiday in St Petersburg last year.

But Skripal was unhappy with the Russian ­doctors’ diagnosis because Alexandr had been so healthy.

His body was brought back to Britain for his funeral last year.

Sources in Russia suggested this may have helped the Kremlin track Skripal’s whereabouts.

One said: “It is possible to assume that if Russian intelligence wanted to learn where exactly ­Sergei Skripal lives, then ­repatriation of his son could have helped them.”

Friends of Skripal’s yesterday said he liked to drink at Salisbury’s Railway social club.

Nicholas Sebright, 70, said: “He was just one of the guys that came in on a Sunday and sat drinking with his pals.”

• ADDITIONAL REPORTING: TOM WELLS, NICK PARKER, ANDY JEHRING, JAMES MILLS, PATRICK GYSIN and ANDY CRICK.