Vladimir Putin bears 'moral responsibility' for death of British woman in Salisbury after Novichock poisoning

It followed the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and then police officer Nick Bailey, who were poisoned in nearby Salisbury in March that year.

Inquiry chair Lord Anthony Hughes said that he was sure the assassins left the fake perfume bottle in Salisbury after the attempted hit, which he described as an "astonishingly reckless act".

He added that it was a "public demonstration of Russian state power for both international and domestic impact", saying that the evidence that it was a Russian state attack was "overwhelming".

The assassination plot "amounted to a public statement, both for international and domestic consumption, that Russia will act decisively in what it regards are its own interests".

Therefore, Lord Hughes of Ombersley said, everyone involved in the attempt, was "morally responsible" for Ms Sturgess' death - including the Russian President.

First emergency responders were not warned about the difference between opiate overdose symptoms and nerve agent poisoning - though this "did not make any difference".

Lord Hughes of Ombersley said the care that Ms Sturgess received from ambulance and hospital staff was "entirely appropriate".

"I am sure that no medical treatment could in fact have saved her life," he added.

After the attack, members of the public in Salisbury were warned against picking up litter in the streets. Lord Hughes said the "danger of adding public alarm was a real one" and the chance of a harmful or poisonous substance being found or picked up by locals "was small".

In conclusion, he said: "I am sure that in conducting their attack on Sergei Skripal, they were acting on instructions. I have concluded that the operation to assassinate Sergei Skripal must have been authorised at the highest level, by President Putin.

"I conclude that all those involved in the assassination attempt (not only Petrov, Boshirov and Fedotov but also those who sent them, and anyone else giving authorisation or knowing assistance in Russia or elsewhere) were morally responsible for Dawn Sturgess’s death.

"Deploying a highly toxic nerve agent in a busy city was an astonishingly reckless act. The risk that others beyond the intended target might be killed or injured was entirely foreseeable. The risk was dramatically magnified by leaving in the city a bottle of novichok disguised as perfume."

The Russian government has consistently denied involvement in the attack.

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