U.K. Novichok poisoning inquest should be public inquiry, coroner says

A coroner presiding over an inquest into the death of British woman poisoned by a Soviet-developed nerve agent after a similar attack targeting a Russian ex-spy said Wednesday that she wants the probe to be turned into a public inquiry so she can examine Russia's possible involvement.

Unlike an inquest, British law allows a public inquiry to consider sensitive intelligence material during partly closed hearings. The inquiry that coroner Heather Hallett requested in order to consider any role played by the Russian government in the 2018 death of Dawn Sturgess would be unlikely to start before 2023.

Sturgess, 44, and her partner collapsed in the southwest England town of Amesbury after coming into contact with a small perfume bottle containing Novichok, a military grade nerve agent.

The pair were exposed three months after Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were sickened in a Novichok attack in the nearby city of Salisbury.

Adam Straw, a lawyer representing Sturgess' family and her partner, Charlie Rowley, said the "overriding concern is to ensure the truth of how Ms. Sturgess died is established."

"No family should wait five and a half years to find out how someone died," he said.

Britain's government on Tuesday named and charged a third Russian suspect in the Novichok poisonings.