Consultant who treated Yulia Skripal ‘removed from her duties as a doctor after asking her questions about Novichok poisonings’, inquiry hears

Yulia Skripal was removed from her treatment after she raised questions about what had happened to her when she suddenly woke up in intensive care, a hospital consultant said.

The Sturgess Inquiry heard that Dr. Stephen Cockcroft was the critical care consultant who treated Sergei and Yulia Skripal within the first 24 hours of their arrival at Salisbury Hospital on 4 March 2018.

The former spy and his daughter are believed to have been poisoned after members of Russian military intelligence smeared a nerve agent on Mr Skripal’s door handle in the Wiltshire town.

Dr Cockcroft said the initial diagnosis was that the pair had suffered a drug overdose. He said the number of patients overdosing on drugs in Salisbury in the months before the incident was unusually high.

But he began to suspect poisoning, and his suspicions grew even more when a police officer told him to Google Sergei Skripal.

He said the police officer told him: ‘I think you should Google Sergei Skripal, you won’t believe what I’ve just learned.

Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned with her father, Russian spy Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia (pictured) were nearly killed after Russian agents were believed to have sprayed the front door of their home with the military-grade Novichok chemical

He said his thoughts turned to previous incidents in which highly potent synthetic opiates were used, such as the assassinations carried out by the Israelis in Jordan and the Russians in Chechnya.

The investigation learned that Ms Skripal’s clinical condition was particularly poor when she arrived at the hospital.

“I was really worried about Yulia Skripal’s health,” he said.

He added that he thought he probably suffered ‘catastrophic brain damage’.

But Dr Cockcroft’s time dealing with the Skripals would soon come to an end.

Ms Skripal had been placed in a sedation hold but woke up suddenly. He said a nurse ran up to him and said: ‘Steve, come quickly, Yulia is getting out of bed.’

He said he was ‘stunned’ by the news.

‘I’ll be honest with you, I was really stunned, this is a girl I never thought would act again,’ he said.

‘I never thought he could hold a conversation.’

He said Yulia looked ‘scared’.

He defended his decision to speak to him while he was awake, saying ‘you can’t help but talk to them’.

He said she said to him: ‘Your father is in the next room, we think he was poisoned, did anyone attack you?’

He also asked if he had been sprayed with anything.

After this incident, the hospital’s medical director, Dr. By Christine Blanshard Mr and Mrs Skripal were removed from the intensive care programme, he said.

“I always talk to my patients, even when I think they can’t hear me, to explain what’s going on,” he said.

He described Ms Blanshard’s attitude as ‘a bit difficult’.

In his statement he said he was called to a meeting with Ms Blanshard on March 12 to discuss her handling of the incident.

‘There is no official record of this meeting, but I was immediately suspended from working in the intensive care unit until either Yulia or Sergei were discharged or died,’ he said.

‘It seems that I acted unprofessionally in speaking to Yulia Skripal and should have left such a conversation to the security services.’

He said that after taking him off course, Ms Blanshard told him not to discuss any aspects of the poisoning with colleagues and warned that if he did so it would be considered ‘serious misconduct’.

There was a ‘very difficult period’ after this and colleagues stopped talking about the poisoning in front of him.

He said he was prevented from speaking about his experience caring for the Skripals at a briefing and conference held after the incident.

The briefing was held at Porton Down, a defense laboratory near Salisbury, in April 2018, and the conference was held at Salisbury Hospital in June of the same year.

She said she was initially advised to speak about the presentation and recognition of poisoning at the Porton Down meeting in April 2018, but Ms Blanshard intervened and redirected the discussion to a different topic.

He said he was not given the opportunity to speak during the hospital lecture

The investigation continues.