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| Fatal Novichok dose 'came from bottle' in victim's house | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Novichok that poisoned a couple in Wiltshire came from a small bottle found in the home of one of the victims, police say. | |
| A bottle was found in a search at Charlie Rowley's Amesbury house and was tested by scientists at Porton Down, the Metropolitan Police said. | |
| Mr Rowley, 45, remains in hospital in Salisbury in a serious but stable condition after falling ill on 30 June. | |
| His partner Dawn Sturgess, 44, died last weekend. | |
| Scientists at the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory are still trying to establish whether the deadly substance found at Mr Rowley's house came from the same batch of Novichok that contaminated Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March. | |
| Cordons remain | |
| Police said they were still trying to find out where the bottle came from, and why it ended up in the house. | |
| Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the head of UK Counter Terrorism Policing, said it was "clearly a significant and positive development". | |
| "However, we cannot guarantee that there isn't any more of the substance left and cordons will remain in place for some considerable time," he added. | |
| "This is to allow thorough searches to continue as a precautionary measure for public safety and to assist the investigation team." | |
| A spokesman said detectives had spoken to Mr Rowley and were due to speak to him again to establish how he and Ms Sturgess came to be contaminated. | |
| A murder inquiry was started following Ms Sturgess's death on Sunday. | |
| Analysis: BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera | |
| The discovery of the bottle is a significant moment. | |
| It will help reassure residents in the local area that the risks to their health have been reduced, although the police say they cannot guarantee no more of the substance is left. | |
| And it also may provide a significant piece of evidence in trying to establish how Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley came to be poisoned - and what link there might be with the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. | |
| The working assumption of police is that the bottle was a container discarded after the March poisoning. | |
| It may now be possible to establish a scientific link by trying to match impurities in both samples of Novichok to see if the nerve agent comes from the same batch. |