ON THE PROWL
CCTV images of Skripal Novichok poisoning spies travelling from London to Salisbury released by cops
INCREDIBLE CCTV images show the Russian spies accused of carrying out a nerve agent attack in Salisbury walking around the town before leaving Britain at Heathrow Airport.
Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov have been named today as the men who attempted a hit on the former MI6 mole Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
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They were caught on CCTV in Salisbury at 11.58am on the Sunday March 4 “moments before the attack”, police said.
Scotland Yard released the images today, as well as issuing a European Arrest Warrant for the pair's arrest.
Hours later, Prime Minister Theresa May said that intelligence provided by UK agencies indicated that the pair are officers of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service.
Petrov and Boshirov stayed in the City Stay Hotel, Bow, East London during their time in the UK, it is understood.
Cops searching their room on May 4 - almost two months after the attack in Salisbury - are said to have discovered minute traces of Novichok.
Police said Novichok was brought into Britain in a Ninna Ricci ‘Premier Jour’ perfume bottle with a specially made poison applicator.
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The CPS said in a joint statement with Scotland Yard today: "There is sufficient evidence to charge two Russian nationals named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with offences including conspiracy to murder over the Salisbury nerve agent attack."
Scotland Yard also confirmed that both spies had been to the UK before on the same passports and "travelled extensively on them in the past".
The breakthrough came after cops collected 4,000 hours of CCTV and 2,300 exhibits since the near-fatal poisoning of Skripal, 66, and Yulia, 33, in Salisbury in March.
Among the clips was grainy CCTV of a man and a blonde woman with a red handbag captured on CCTV 20 minutes before the attempted hit.
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The CCTV showed the young woman walking beside an older man not far from the bench where the stricken pair were discovered.
The Skripals were saved thanks to the expert work of British doctors - with Yulia making a full recovery just weeks later.
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She vowed to return to Russia, but her ex-spook dad is still receiving treatment for the “extremely painful” ordeal.
The same deadly nerve agent was also said to be responsible for the killing of mum-of-three Dawn Sturgess in nearby Amesbury, in June.
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The same deadly nerve agent was also said to be responsible for the killing of mum-of-three Dawn Sturgess in nearby Amesbury, in June.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OCPW) said its team had confirmed the findings following an independent review, which concluded in July, that the substance used was Novichok.
Ms Sturgess and her partner Charlie Rowley fell ill at his home in Amesbury on June 30.
She died in hospital eight days later having never regained consciousness.
Welcoming the report, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt again levelled the blame for the attacks at Russia.
Soldiers begin the decontamination of areas around Salisbury by replacing 'contaminated' paving where ex-Russian spy Sergi Skripal was poisoned
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