A police officer who suffered novichok poisoning when he searched the home of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal following the Salisbury nerve agent attack has reached a settlement with his former force.
Lawyers for Nick Bailey argued that he continued to suffer from the trauma of the poisoning more than four years on and made a personal injury claim against Wiltshire police.
Bailey was the first person to go into Skripal’s home in March 2018 after the former spy and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned and he spent 17 days in hospital.
Patrick Maguire, a partner at Horwich Cohen Coghlan solicitors, which represents Bailey, said in a statement on Tuesday: “Life has never been the same since that day in 2018 for Nick and this feels like a huge step forward in terms of getting some level of closure. Although the last four years have been incredibly challenging for our client, we’re all pleased to have reached this settlement in the end. Nick is proud and privileged to have served in the police and this will never change.
“On behalf of Nick and the family we’d like to thank the public from around the world who have supported him as well as his friends, former colleagues and most importantly his family.”
Maguire said the terms of the settlement would remain confidential but confirmed it brought the litigation to an end. He added: “All the issues connected to this case have had a major impact, not just on our client and his family, but the nation as a whole.”
The settlement means Bailey’s legal team will drop calls for potentially sensitive documents such as handwritten notes made during the police response to be disclosed.
Sergei and Yulia Skripal survived the attack but a few months later Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner, Charlie Rowley, were poisoned in Amesbury, eight miles north of Salisbury, after he found a fake perfume bottle containing novichok. Rowley recovered but Sturgess died on 8 July that year.
A public inquiry that will investigate the circumstances of Sturgess’s death has been launched but no date has been set for the first substantive hearings.
Bailey left Wiltshire police in October 2020 after 18 years, saying he “couldn’t deal with being in a police environment”.
Speaking to Wiltshire college for a podcast last year, Bailey told how he felt “overwhelming guilt” after his family were forced to leave their home because he had contaminated it with the nerve agent. He said: “I remember feeling pure panic and fear of the unknown because I had been poisoned by this nerve agent and you just don’t know where that is going to end.
“There was a lot of fear and a lot of guilt because later on down the line while I was in hospital my family were basically told they had to leave our house because I had accidentally taken nerve agent back and contaminated the house.”
