Boy fell ill after Skripal gave him bread for ducks

Spy had been poisoned, inquiry hears

- Helen Barnett

A YOUNG boy who was feeding ducks with Russian spy Sergei Skripal fell ill for two days afterwards, an inquiry into the Novichok poisonings was told yesterday.

Not knowing he had come into contact with the nerve agent earlier that day, Mr Skripal, 66, handed the child bread for the birds.

CCTV footage of them next to a river in Salisbury city centre was shown at the inquiry into Dawn Sturgess's death from the toxin.

Police used the clip to trace the boy and two others, who reported being ill. But no traces of Novichok were found on them when they were eventually tested, the inquiry heard.