Visiting their daughter at Salisbury District Hospital before she slipped away, Mr and Mrs Sturgess had to wear gloves and doctors told her mother not to touch her face to wipe her tears after stroking her hair.

Once again, Salisbury was plunged into fear of the unknown. How much longer was Novichok left there?

Footfall at local stores fell by thirty percent just as the city’s economy began to recover from the aftermath of the attack on the Skripals. Visitor numbers fell again and American coaches stopped coming to the city after visiting Stonehenge.

Police have issued a warning, admitting traces may still be present in Salisbury and urging residents and visitors not to pick up discarded items in the area.

Ultimately, it appears the deadly nerve agent was no longer found.

But troubling questions remained.

How could a contaminated bottle containing one of the deadliest nerve agents in existence have been overlooked during the allegedly fingertip search and cleanup of large parts of Ms. Sturgess’s hometown?

How could an innocent mother – described by her family as a “sweet hippie” – become an accidental victim of a murderous Russian plot carried out on British soil to execute an enemy of the Putin regime?

How did the Russians discover that the Skripals had been given supposedly safe haven in Salisbury by the British government?

And what lessons can we learn from the risk of a new chemical weapons attack in this country?

Matthew Dean, a Wiltshire councilor who was head of Salisbury City Council during the Salisbury poisonings, said: “There was a big shock at the time because it seemed to have happened again, that someone others have been victims of this poison.

Mr Dean added: “Thankfully as a city we have recovered from the overall economic impact of the attack, but a young mother was taken from her children and it was very, very sad.

“I hope, for the sake of Dawn’s family, that the investigation will find answers to how and why she came into contact with Novichok. I hope that the investigation will allow them to turn the page on the terrible events of that time and move on. »

A lively, fun-loving woman

These are words echoed by Dawn’s maternal uncle, Shaun Rennie, also a retired civil servant, who says he hopes the investigation will place his niece at the center of his search for the truth and remember her as the woman vivacious and fun-loving that she was. .

“Oh Dawn, she was so much fun,” he said. “She had her problems, but she overcame it all. She was definitely turning a corner and it was so sad that she was taken away at that time. Her children are coping, but they miss their mother dearly.

Mr Rennie added: “I hope Dawn’s voice will be heard at the inquest. And I want to hear what the authorities think and explain what their response to the situation has been. This left a real scar on people’s consciousness.

“But why did it take six years to get to this point? We only got there thanks to Stan and Caroline’s fight to get a public inquiry. They want answers.