Poisoned former Russian double-agent spent much of his time alone, tending to his pets and playing old computer games

RUSSIAN double agent Sergei Skripal spent hours playing old computer war games in his “man cave” surrounded by his pet guinea pigs, friends revealed last night.

But the spook, still fighting for his life after being poisoned, was so useless with technology he did not even have a password for his PC.

And the lonely widower’s only other companion was a pedigree Persian cat which cost him thousands of pounds to bring to Britain.

The glimpse into the ex-spy’s life emerged a week after he and daughter Yulia were targeted in a suspected Kremlin-backed hit.

Investigators continued to examine the graves of Skripal’s wife Liudmila and son Alexandr in a cemetery yesterday. There are no plans to exhume their bodies.

Two ambulances were also taken away for testing and decontamination. Military personnel in decontamination suits and masks were seen covering one vehicle with a tarpaulin before they moved it.

Police are working on the theory that Skripal was poisoned with nerve agent at his home in Salisbury, Wilts. He was found with his daughter, 33, slumped in a shopping centre in the city.

Det Sgt Nick Bailey, 38 and also still in hospital after being contaminated, is thought to have visited the house after attending the scene where the pair collapsed.

Friends said they had not seen Skripal’s pets for days and had not been asked to care for them.

They fear the animals might have come into contact with the nerve agent used in the attack.

If traces are found, it would confirm the belief Skripal, 66, was poisoned at his home.

Pictures on Yulia’s Facebook page show her with the black Persian cat in Skripal’s back garden

One pal said: “He imported the cat a couple of years ago from Russia, he got it especially. It was really expensive. Everyone on Sergei’s street is really worried about it.

“If they used nerve agent in the house he was always petting his guinea pigs, so it will have got on them.” The friend said Skripal struggled with English but would become chatty when asked about his pets.

The pal added: “He had this huge hutch in the corner of his computer room at the front of his house where he kept the two guinea pigs.

“He would take them out and pet them, or he would go into his kitchen next door and prepare his cat’s meal while I was there.”

Skripal, who came to Britain after a spy swap, had lived in the four-bed semi in a quiet cul-de-sac in Salisbury since 2011. Apart from the occasional outing to pubs or social clubs, he is thought to have spent hours on his own in the unremarkable property.

In his den at the front of the house he kept a hutch on the floor for his two guinea pigs, next to a desk with an ageing PC, stacked with old Russian war games.

Another smaller desk was used by Alexandr, who died suddenly of liver failure in St Petersburg last year. Skripal’s wife died of cancer in 2012.

But another of Skripal’s pals rubbished claims he angered his former Russian bosses by working again in cyber security. The friend told The Sun: “For a Russian spy, he wasn’t very good with tech. He would ask us to fix very basic things. He struggled to connect to his wi-fi and didn’t even know how to turn his router off and on.

“He didn’t even have a password. I guess because he just lived with his son they trusted each other.

“If you take the sort of average person’s knowledge of a computer, Sergei’s was probably considerably worse than that.”

Instead, the source revealed he would spend hours sitting in a black wheeled office chair playing old Russian tank games. His friend added: “His PC was a few years old, but it was OK but the games were much older.

Friends knew about his past but never spoke to him about it.

The pal said: “I saw him more as Sergei the retired bloke, rather than Sergei the spy.”

His demeanour changed after the death of 43-year-old Alexandr. The friend said: “They were incredibly close. It was just those two.

“He was always such a cheery guy, always smiling. But after his son died he was different. You could see it in his eyes.”

Stricken Cop: 'I'm no hero'

THE cop contaminated by a deadly nerve agent after rushing to the aid of stricken ex-spook Sergei Skripal insisted yesterday: “I’m not a hero.”

Det Sgt Nick Bailey, 38, was in intensive care but is now conscious and spoke out for the first time since falling ill last Sunday.

From his hospital bed, he issued a message thanking the public and fellow officers for their support.

Wiltshire Police said: “Nick would like us to say on his behalf that he and his family are hugely grateful for all the messages of support from the public, and colleagues from the police family.

“People have been so kind and he has expressed that he will never forget that kindness.

“He also wishes to say that he was part of a group of officers and other emergency service colleagues who dealt with the initial incident.

“He wants to say that he does not consider himself a ‘hero’, he states he was merely doing his job — a job he loves and is immensely proud of — just like all of his other dedicated colleagues do, day in, day out, in order to protect the public.”

Det Sgt Bailey is understood to have visited the scene in Salisbury where Skripal, 66, and daughter Yulia, 33, were found slumped unconscious.

But he is also thought to have gone to Skripal’s home soon after and it is feared he could have been contaminated there.

Yesterday, police and soldiers wearing ­protective clothing wrapped Det Sgt Bailey’s car in a tarpaulin before towing it away.