Fortnightly update to the Police and Crime Commissioner - 11 October 2024

Chief Constable fortnightly update to the Police and Crime Commissioner

11 October 2024

Dear Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson,

I wanted to provide you, and our communities, with an update ahead of the Dawn Sturgess Public Inquiry which starts on Monday in Salisbury before moving to London.

Dawn tragically died on July 8, 2018, following exposure to the nerve agent Novichok at a private address in Amesbury. Her death occurred just over five months after the first Novichok incident in Salisbury.

It is important to remember that at the heart of the Inquiry are Dawn’s family and loved ones whose lives have been irreversibly changed.

The independent Inquiry was established in 2022 after the then Home Secretary converted the inquest into Dawn’s death to allow all relevant evidence to be heard.

Extensive planning has been ongoing for several months locally and nationally to ensure the Inquiry can run uninterrupted. The purpose is to provide Dawn’s family, friends and our wider communities in Wiltshire the opportunity to access the fullest possible information surrounding Dawn’s death.

Wiltshire Police, along with several of our local, regional and national partners, has been designated as a Core Participant in the Inquiry after being identified as an ‘organisation with a significant interest in the Inquiry’.

In addition to our status as a Core Participant, while the Inquiry is sitting in Salisbury, we also have responsibility for the policing operation outside of the Guildhall. We have developed a proportionate policing plan which will be resourced, largely, by our Neighbourhood Policing colleagues. These are familiar faces within the community with strong, local connections.

Although our communities in Salisbury city centre will likely see an increased policing presence for the duration of the Salisbury hearing phase, there is no current intelligence to suggest there is any risk to the wider public.

Our policing response to the Inquiry is in line with other, similar-sized public events.

Importantly, you have our reassurance that there will be no impact on the local policing provision within and around Salisbury or the wider county. To support our communities living in certain areas of the city that we expect could draw a sharp media focus during the hearings, we’ve already started to increase foot patrols.

We fully appreciate the impact that the Inquiry starting in our county might have on our local communities. It will, undoubtedly, bring back some difficult memories for those who were living and working in Salisbury and Amesbury in 2018. Our collective focus, therefore, remains on supporting our communities and ensuring Wiltshire Police continue to provide the local policing service that our communities need.

Kindest regards to you,

Catherine Roper

Chief Constable, Wiltshire Police