Novichok nerve agent attack in Salisbury cost taxpayers a staggering £30million
THE Novichok poisoning plot in Salisbury cost police a staggering £12million, new figures have revealed.
It brings the total clean-up bill picked up by taxpayer after two declared major incidents to a whopping £30million.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 67, and his daughter Yulia, 34. survived the assassination attempt in March last year.
Four months later Charlie Rowley, 46, was infected with the military-grade deadly nerve agent along with his partner Dawn Sturgess, 44, who died after falling into a coma.
They pair had picked up a perfume bottle containing the deadly substance discarded by the would-be assassins, sinmce unmasked as Putin-backed GRU agents.
Det Sgt Nick Bailey was rushed to hospital after falling seriously ill investigating the poisoning but has now returned to duty.
The total policing cost of the investigation hit £12million, according to Wiltshire Police's 2018/19 annual report revealed on Tuesday.
TAXPAYERS FUNDS
But the entire policing bill has been covered and paid by the Home Office from taxpayers funds.
Angus Macpherson,Wiltshire and Swindon’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: "The Force’s response and leadership received national recognition for the exemplary way in which it managed
The incidents; and that message of commendation has been filtered through to the officers, staff and volunteers who worked tirelessly to ensure the public were kept safe and as informed as possible in line with the investigation.
"I would like to publicly add my own gratitude to the extraordinary efforts of Wiltshire Police and the selfless dedication and commitment of all involved.";
Police spent more than £7million on drafting in cops from up to 40 other forces and paying out overtime in the first six months alone.
'EXTRAORDINARY LEVEL OF DEMAND'
They were forced to cancel rest days and put holiday requests on hold due to the "extraordinary level of demand".
Several vehicles infected with Novichok were destroyed and replaced costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Figures have previously shown £10.9million was spent by the MoD on personnel costs to clear and make contaminated sites safe.
Another £6.7million went on specialist equipment and materials.
Some £286,000 was spent on travel, accommodation and meals for specialist teams and staff.
Separate figures this month showed 16 police vehicles and eight ambulances contaminated by Novichok were written off at a cost of £892,000.
The included three Mercedes Sprinter 519 CDI ambulances, with one worth £137,318.
South Western Ambulance Service also had to destroy five Skoda Octavia 4x4s, costing a combined £93,334.
All had to be safely buried in a hazardous waste landfill site.
Earlier this month detectives from the Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) confirmed that traces of the nerve agent have been found in a blood sample which was taken at the time from a second police officer.
Russian GRU agents Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, real names Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga and Dr Alexander Mishkin, were later unmasked as the would-be assassins.
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