According to the preliminary version, which was voiced by the deputy head of the British Interior Ministry Ben Wallace, the poisoning was not a purposeful attempt . Wallace also added that most likely the two victims were poisoned by traces of Novichok, which stayed in Salisbury after the attempt on Sergei and Julia Skripals.

Speaking to the House of Commons on July 5, the head of the UK Ministry of Internal Affairs, Sajid Javid, said that "the world is looking at Russia " and called on Moscow "to explain the latest poisoning" by Novichok. Further debunking by Stopfake www.stopfake.org/fejk-zamglavy-mvd-velikobritanii-zayavil-chto-rossiya-neprichastna-k-intsidentu-v-ejmsberi/,

On 4 July paramedics were called twice to a flat in Amesbury not far from Salisbury. Scientists at the UK's military research lab, Porton Down, found the couple had been exposed to the same nerve agent as the Skripals, Novichok. One of the victims passed away on 9 July.