Inquest opens into British woman poisoned by nerve agent

London, July 19

A coroner has opened an inquest into the poisoning death of a British woman who was exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.

Senior coroner David Ridley opened the inquest on Thursday, but said the cause of Dawn Sturgess' death won't be given until further tests are completed. He adjourned the proceedings until January.

Sturgess, 44, and partner Charlie Rowley, 45, were sickened on June 30 in southwestern England near where a Russian ex-spy and his daughter were poisoned with Novichok in March. Sturgess died July 8. Rowley and the Skripals survived.

Responding to a report from Britain's Press Association that police have identified "several Russians" as suspects in the March attack, the Russian ambassador to Lo Alexander Yakovenko, said: "We work after all with official data, not with press reports". — AP