LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - An English court has given permission for blood samples to be taken from poisoned ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter for testing by chemical weapons experts, a courts spokesman said on Thursday.

London’s Court of Protection, which makes decision over the welfare of people who are unable to do so themselves, agreed doctors could take samples from Skripal for examination by inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the judicial spokesman said. (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Alistair Smout)</s>Sergei and Yulia Skripal may have suffered life-long brain damage as a result of the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, a court has heard.

Mr Justice Williams told the Court of Protection that the father and daughter remain in intensive care under heavy sedation.

“The precise effect of their exposure on their long-term health remains unclear but medical tests indicate that their mental capacity might be compromised to an unknown and so far unascertained degree,” the judge said.

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“At present both Mr and Ms Skripal are critical but stable; it is not inconceivable that their condition could rapidly deteriorate.”

A consultant treating the victims at Salisbury District Hospital said that Mr Skripal was unable to communicate in any way, but said his daughter was unable to communicate in any “meaningful way”.

The doctor said it was not yet possible to tell whether the pair can recover but that they were being treated “on the basis that they would wish to be kept alive and to achieve optimal recovery”.

He ruled that doctors could pass fresh blood samples from the victims to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) alongside their medical records to aid an international investigation.

Mr Justice Williams made the ruling under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 at the Government’s request because the Skripals are unable to give consent.

The judge said taking new samples was in their “best interest” and it was not possible to say whether their current incapacity was temporary or permanent.

He concluded that the OPCW’s investigation may provide information on how to treat Mr Skripal and his daughter, and what happened to them.

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“That might simply confirm the current conclusions, it might elaborate or clarify them, it might reach a different conclusion,” Mr Justice Williams said.

“Although the Secretary of State [Amber Rudd] does not believe the latter prospect to be likely given her confidence in Porton Down’s findings, I do not think the possibility can be ignored.”

He announced his decision on Thursday after analysing the case at a private hearing earlier this week, during which evidence was heard from chemical weapons experts, arms control and the Home Office.

The samples will be used to identify the nerve agent used to poison the pair and for DNA analysis confirming the origin of blood originally tested by the British military.

Experts at the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down identified the nerve agent used against the Skripals as part of the Soviet-developed “novichok” group.

The Prime Minister said Russia had provided “no credible explanation” on how the substance came to be used on the streets of Wiltshire and accused Vladimir Putin’s government of culpability.

OPCW investigators have carried out tests in areas visited by Mr Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury and the results are expected to take a minimum of two weeks.

Police have not confirmed how the nerve agent was administered but confirmed a total of 38 people were treated for varying symptoms resulting from exposure.

Only the Skripals and Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey were kept in hospital, while an unnamed person is being treated as an outpatient.

DS Nick Bailey was discharged from treatment on Thursday, officials announced.

Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Kier Pritchard hailed the “absolutely fantastic news” and read statements from DS Bailey and his wife, Sarah.

The officer said the level of global support had been “unbelievable”, adding: “I’ve really appreciated every single message. One of the things that has lifted me is the public support police have received during this incident.”

DS Bailey gave his “heartfelt thanks” to medics and said he has been focusing on getting better.

“I want people to focus on the investigation – not the police officer who was unfortunate enough to be caught up in it,” he added. “I understand why there is attention on me, but all I have done is represent every police officer who goes out there every day and puts their life at risk.

“As for what happens now – we are just taking each day as it comes… normal life for me will probably never be the same.”

DS Bailey’s wife said life had been “turned upside down” for the family.

“Nick doesn’t like the term hero, but he has always been a hero to me and our children,” she added.

Ms Skripal had been visiting her father on a holiday from Russia when they fell ill after going for lunch in Salisbury on 4 March, with passersby trying to help after finding the pair slumped on a park bench.

Shape Created with Sketch. Skripal attack aftermath – in pictures Show all 15 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Skripal attack aftermath – in pictures 1/15 Scene of attack Members of the emergency services in hazard suits fix the tent over the bench where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March 2018. Getty 2/15 Victim - Sergei Skripal The retired Russian colonel and former double agent for MI6 was in a critical condition in hospital for more than two months after being exposed to novichok in Salisbury. He was given refuge in the UK after being jailed in Moscow for treason. Mr Skripal came to Britain as part of a high-profile “spy swap” in 2010 in which four men were exchanged for ten Russian "sleeper agents" in the US. In this image he is speaking to his lawyer from behind bars in Moscow in 2006. AP 3/15 Victim - Yulia Skripal Yulia Skripal was struck down by a novichok poison alongside her father Sergei. Facebook 4/15 Scene of attack A police officer stands guard outside a branch of the Italian chain restaurant Zizzi where the pair dined at before falling ill. It was boarded off whilst investigators worked on the building and later found traces of the chemical weapon within it. AFP/Getty 5/15 Scene of attack Large areas of central Salisbury were cordoned off by police following the discovery of the Skripals. Traces of nerve agent were also found in The Mill pub. PA 6/15 Victim - Nick Bailey Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, rushed to the aid of the Russian ex-spy and his daughter who were targeted with a nerve agent. He was hospitalized after aiding them and didn't leave until three weeks after the attack. Wiltshire Police/Rex 7/15 Police investigation - Skripal’s home Police believe they were poisoned at home, and detectives found the highest concentration of novichok on the front door of Mr Skripal’s house. Getty 8/15 Theresa May visits scene of attack Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May spokes with Wiltshire Police's Chief Constable Kier Pritchard near where the Skripal's were found. Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the nerve agent poisoning and suspended high-level contacts, including for the World Cup on March 14. Theresa May told parliament that Russia had failed to respond to her demand for an explanation on how a Soviet-designed chemical, Novichok, was used in Salisbury. AFP/Getty 9/15 Skripal days before attack Sergei Skripal days before he was exposed to Novichok, that has left him fighting for life. ITV News 10/15 Police investigation - military involvement British soldiers were deployed soon after the attack to help a counter-terrorism investigation into the nerve agent attack. One of the places they were asked to help out with was Skripal's home and it's surrounding. They were asked to remove a vehicle connected to the agent attack in Salisbury, from a residential street in Gillingham. AFP/Getty 11/15 Police investigation Personnel in protective coveralls and breathing equipment cover an ambulance with a tarpaulin at the Salisbury District Hospital. AFP/Getty 12/15 Police investigation The investigation extended to the grave of Sergei Skripal's son Alexander in London Road cemetery. Getty 13/15 Police investigation The Counter Terrorism Policing Network requested assistance from the military to remove a number of vehicles and objects from Salisbury. EPA 14/15 Home Secretary visits scene of attack Home Secretary Amber Rudd visited the scene of the nerve agent attack at the Maltings shopping centre on 9 March. Getty 15/15 Yulia Skripal speaks for the first time Yulia Skripal, speaking for the first time, said she felt lucky to have survived the nerve agent attack in Salisbury which left her fighting for life. Ms Skripal said her life had been “turned upside down” by the assassination attempt. But the Russian national added she hoped to return to her homeland one day, despite the Kremlin being blamed for the attack. Reuters 1/15 Scene of attack Members of the emergency services in hazard suits fix the tent over the bench where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March 2018. Getty 2/15 Victim - Sergei Skripal The retired Russian colonel and former double agent for MI6 was in a critical condition in hospital for more than two months after being exposed to novichok in Salisbury. He was given refuge in the UK after being jailed in Moscow for treason. Mr Skripal came to Britain as part of a high-profile “spy swap” in 2010 in which four men were exchanged for ten Russian "sleeper agents" in the US. In this image he is speaking to his lawyer from behind bars in Moscow in 2006. AP 3/15 Victim - Yulia Skripal Yulia Skripal was struck down by a novichok poison alongside her father Sergei. Facebook 4/15 Scene of attack A police officer stands guard outside a branch of the Italian chain restaurant Zizzi where the pair dined at before falling ill. It was boarded off whilst investigators worked on the building and later found traces of the chemical weapon within it. AFP/Getty 5/15 Scene of attack Large areas of central Salisbury were cordoned off by police following the discovery of the Skripals. Traces of nerve agent were also found in The Mill pub. PA 6/15 Victim - Nick Bailey Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, rushed to the aid of the Russian ex-spy and his daughter who were targeted with a nerve agent. He was hospitalized after aiding them and didn't leave until three weeks after the attack. Wiltshire Police/Rex 7/15 Police investigation - Skripal’s home Police believe they were poisoned at home, and detectives found the highest concentration of novichok on the front door of Mr Skripal’s house. Getty 8/15 Theresa May visits scene of attack Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May spokes with Wiltshire Police's Chief Constable Kier Pritchard near where the Skripal's were found. Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the nerve agent poisoning and suspended high-level contacts, including for the World Cup on March 14. Theresa May told parliament that Russia had failed to respond to her demand for an explanation on how a Soviet-designed chemical, Novichok, was used in Salisbury. AFP/Getty 9/15 Skripal days before attack Sergei Skripal days before he was exposed to Novichok, that has left him fighting for life. ITV News 10/15 Police investigation - military involvement British soldiers were deployed soon after the attack to help a counter-terrorism investigation into the nerve agent attack. One of the places they were asked to help out with was Skripal's home and it's surrounding. They were asked to remove a vehicle connected to the agent attack in Salisbury, from a residential street in Gillingham. AFP/Getty 11/15 Police investigation Personnel in protective coveralls and breathing equipment cover an ambulance with a tarpaulin at the Salisbury District Hospital. AFP/Getty 12/15 Police investigation The investigation extended to the grave of Sergei Skripal's son Alexander in London Road cemetery. Getty 13/15 Police investigation The Counter Terrorism Policing Network requested assistance from the military to remove a number of vehicles and objects from Salisbury. EPA 14/15 Home Secretary visits scene of attack Home Secretary Amber Rudd visited the scene of the nerve agent attack at the Maltings shopping centre on 9 March. Getty 15/15 Yulia Skripal speaks for the first time Yulia Skripal, speaking for the first time, said she felt lucky to have survived the nerve agent attack in Salisbury which left her fighting for life. Ms Skripal said her life had been “turned upside down” by the assassination attempt. But the Russian national added she hoped to return to her homeland one day, despite the Kremlin being blamed for the attack. Reuters

Witnesses described them twitching, vomiting and stopping breathing – all symptoms consistent with nerve agent exposure.

The deadly chemicals attack the nervous system and can kill victims by paralysing the respiratory system, causing oxygen deprivation and eventual suffocation.

One of the scientists who developed novichok before defecting to the US said there was “no cure” for the weapons, and any antidote must be administered extremely quickly to take effect.

Mr Skripal moved to the cathedral city after being handed over in a Cold War-style spy swap in 2010.

He had been jailed for treason in Russia for allegedly passing secrets to MI6 while a colonel in the GRU military intelligence agency.

Mr Skripal’s wife died in 2012, his son passed away last year and he is also believed to have lost his brother in recent years.

The Court of Protection heard that he has some relatives in Russia but the Home Office has not attempted to contact them.

The Russian government has promised to cooperate with the OPCW but dismissed its conclusions that ally Bashar al-Assad killed civilians with sarin gas in Syria last year.

It denies any wrongdoing and claims it has destroyed all chemical weapons stockpiles and complied with the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador to the UK, heightened tensions by accusing Britain of storing deadly novichok itself in an extraordinary press conference, while the attack was discussed in EU talks.

The Metropolitan Police has said the criminal investigation is likely to take “many months” and continues to appeal for anyone with information to come forward.</s>LONDON (Reuters) - An English court has given permission for blood samples to be taken from poisoned ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter for testing by chemical weapons experts, a courts spokesman said on Thursday.

London's Court of Protection, which makes decision over the welfare of people who are unable to do so themselves, agreed doctors could take samples from Skripal for examination by inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the judicial spokesman said. 

 

 (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Alistair Smout)</s>LONDON (Reuters) - An English court has given permission for blood samples to be taken from poisoned ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter for testing by chemical weapons experts, a courts spokesman said on Thursday.

London’s Court of Protection, which makes decision over the welfare of people who are unable to do so themselves, agreed doctors could take samples from Skripal for examination by inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the judicial spokesman said.</s>A judge has given doctors permission to take blood samples from Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia so that tests can be carried out by chemical weapons experts, following a hearing in a specialist court.

Mr Justice Williams has made a ruling following a hearing in the Court of Protection, where issues relating to people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions are considered, in London.

He said both Mr and Ms Skripal were unconscious in hospital in Salisbury and therefore unable to give their consent to blood samples being taken or tested.

The judge, who is based in the Family Division of the High Court in London, announced his decision on Thursday after analysing the case at a private hearing earlier this week.

Mr Justice Williams said doctors at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust could provide blood samples to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

He said trust bosses could also provide copies of medical notes to the OPCW.

The judge said he had concluded that such moves were in the best interests of Mr and Ms Skripal.

Mr Justice Williams said the UK Government had invited OPCW, which is based in The Hague, Holland, to send experts to assist with investigations.

He said OPCW experts wanted to analyse fresh blood samples from Mr and Ms Skripal.

The judge said bosses at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust had told government officials that a Court of Protection judge would have to authorise such moves because Mr and Ms Skripal were incapacitated.

He said Government lawyers had then asked him to make decisions.</s>A judge has given permission for blood samples to be taken from Sergei and Yulia Skripal so that tests can be carried out by chemical weapons experts, following the pair's poisoning with a nerve agent.

Mr Justice Williams made the ruling following a hearing in the Court of Protection, since neither Mr Skripal, 66, or his 33-year-old daughter, are able to give their consent.

He also ruled that the pair's medical notes could be passed on to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), as such moves were in their best interests.

OPCW experts were invited to the UK by the Government to assist with the investigation.

The pair remain unconscious and in critical conditions following the March 4 attack in Salisbury.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, the police officer who was poisoned by the Novichok nerve agent while working on the investigation into the targeted attack "is making great steps forward", according to the Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police.

On Wednesday, ITV News learnt that Det Sgt Bailey is expected to be discharged from hospital shortly.</s>The UK Court of Protection has given permission for blood samples of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who were poisoned in Salisbury, to be taken for testing by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the Sky News television channel reported Thursday.

READ MORE: Russian Journalist Covering Skripal Case Reveals She Was Threatened in UK

On March 14, the UK envoy to the UN Security Council announced that the United Kingdom had asked the OPCW to independently verify its findings in the nerve agent attack against Skripal. On Monday, the OPCW experts arrived in the United Kingdom for the investigation.

The Russian Foreign Ministry requested the UK Foreign Office to allow a joint investigation into the case. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demanded that Moscow should receive access to all the facts and documents connected with the investigation, since one of the victims is Yulia Skripal, a Russian citizen.

Ex-Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious earlier in March on a bench at a shopping center in Salisbury. Both of them remain in critical condition and are being treated for exposure to a chemical.</s>Two to three weeks to analyse samples from Salisbury attack (VIDEO)

Neil Basu, the Metropolitan Police’s Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism, gives a briefing on the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, outside New Scotland Yard in London, March 13, 2018. — Reuters picLONDON, March 21 — The head of the OPCW chemical watchdog said yesterday that it will take two to three weeks to complete laboratory analysis of samples taken from the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain.

A team of experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has arrived in Britain to collect samples of what London says was the Soviet-made nerve agent Novichok.

Russia has denied any involvement in the March 4 attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who remain in critical condition in the English city of Salisbury.

OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu said the samples will be sent to the organization’s main laboratory in The Hague and then to designated labs for analysis.

It will take “another two to three weeks to finalize the analysis,” Uzumcu told reporters.

Asked whether the analysis would be able to determine whether the agent was Novichok, Uzumcu said he did not want to prejudge the outcome of the scientific work.

The OPCW chief was in New York to brief the United Nations Security Council on chemical weapons use in Syria, but he also touched on the Salisbury attack during the closed-door meeting. — AFP</s>The first agreement to ban chemical weapons came in 1675. (France and the Holy Roman Empire forswore poisoned musket balls.) Three centuries and at least six international treaties later, they are still being employed, and at times it seems there's little the world can do to stop it. In Syria, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly used chemical weapons in that country's seven-year civil war, even after Assad agreed to surrender such munitions following a 2013 sarin gas attack that killed hundreds in a Damascus suburb. Russia has been tied to the deadly Novichok nerve agent used in the March 4 poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain, the first reported use in Europe since World War II.

Britain blamed the Russian government for the March spy attack and said there's evidence that Russia has been manufacturing and stockpiling Novichok for use in assassinations. Russia denied involvement and rejected the claim. In 2017, the nerve agent VX was used in the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in Kuala Lumpur's main airport. Most of the concerns about chemical weapons over the last few years have centered on Syria and Iraq. Reports from weapons inspectors and independent groups claim the Syrian military has carried out repeated attacks, using sarin and also barrel bombs filled with chlorine. Chlorine has various industrial uses, and can also be used as a choking agent that burns the lungs. The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution in 2015 that puts chlorine in the same category as other agents. In April 2017, the U.S. bombed the airfield it says was used in a sarin attack that killed at least 80 people in Syria’s Idlib province. Sarin is a nerve agent that spreads quickly through the air, causing convulsions, coma and respiratory arrest.

Despite international treaties signed before the outbreak of World War I, Germany used poison gas on the Western Front in 1915. Everyone else joined in, leaving more than 90,000 dead and a million wounded in chemical attacks by the war’s end. That memory, and the 1925 Geneva Protocol, deterred the use of chemical and still-more ghastly biological agents on the battlefields of World War II and most conflicts since then. Even so, Saddam Hussein’s chemical attacks killed 5,000 Iraqi Kurds in 1988, while a sarin attack by the Aum Shinrikyo cult killed 13 people on the Tokyo subway in 1995. And while the latest treaty, the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, has been signed by 192 nations, the holdouts include North Korea, Egypt and the newly independent South Sudan. Israel has signed but not ratified. The power of chemical weapons in the public imagination was illustrated by the award of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which destroyed Syria’s declared stockpile on behalf of the UN. Syria didn’t include chlorine as part of its disclosure of chemical weapons production and storage sites, which it surrendered after the threat of U.S.-led military action. While the OPCW had verified in October that Russia had eliminated its chemical weapons stockpiles, the group has since claimed that Russia failed to declare all of its development programs from the 1970s and joined the investigation into the use of Novichok. The U.S. is still scrapping its own chemical weapons stores, in accordance with promises it made two decades ago.

Almost everyone agrees on the need to ban chemical munitions — even Syria finally accepted the Chemical Weapons Convention under pressure. But they can’t agree on how to do it. The March attack on the Russian double agent and his daughter, who were found poisoned on a public park bench, has highlighted the danger. After the 2013 sarin attack outside Damascus, Russia and China didn't want to sanction armed force in Syria, while other UN Security Council members such as the U.S. and France argued for a military response. Russia labeled it an excuse for the U.S. to topple regimes like Assad’s, just like the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The proponents of a strike said at the time that the failure to follow through with an attack would weaken deterrence. In justifying the 2017 bombing of the Syrian airfield, U.S. President Donald Trump cited the need to deter chemical weapons use. Intelligence officials have raised concerns that the Islamic State terrorist group is training its foreign fighters in the use of chlorine gas as a weapon that could be used when they return home.
• A QuickTake on Novichok, the Russian nerve agent used in the March 2018 spy attack.
• The OPCW published an infographic and a report on Syria.
• The Trench, a website and blog from Jean Pascal Zanders, a former senior research fellow at the European Union Institute for Security Studies.
• Syria’s chemical weapons and their history were described in this paper by the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
• A book by Edward M. Spiers, professor of strategic studies at Leeds University in the U.K., examines the proliferation and use of these weapons of mass destruction in “A History of Chemical and Biological Weapons.”
• A list of chemical agents and their effects from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Court of Protection hears the Skripals are unable to communicate and may have suffered lifelong brain damage. It rules blood samples can be taken from the pair for analysis by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and grants the group access to medical records.