A DETECTIVE sergeant who worked at the time of the Amesbury poisonings has apologised for accusing Dawn Sturgess of being a 'well known drug addict'.

Previously, the Sturgess inquiry heard that paramedics who attended to Charlie Rowley formed a view he was suffering from nerve agent poisoning, but the police disagreed with them.

The inquiry heard Mr Rowley was known to Wiltshire Police as a drug user.

Temporary Superintendent Kerry Lawes, who was a detective sergeant at the time of the poisoning, gave evidence to the inquiry in central London on Monday.

In an email sent to the coroner on July 1, before Ms Sturgess’ death, she said the police had received a report of a possible nerve agent poisoning, which she believed was a drugs overdose.

In the email, she said the ambulance and fire brigade who attended the scene had “panicked somewhat”, adding that Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley were “two well-known drug addicts”.

However, it has since come to light that there is no evidence that Dawn Sturgess was a drug user, and they had indeed been subject to nerve agent poisoning.

Ms Lawes, who could not attend the inquiry in person, apologised for these comments in a statement which was read out on her behalf.

She said: “I have stated the ambulance and fire panicked somewhat, this was an unprofessional comment to make and I would like to take the opportunity to apologise for it."

She said her belief that the incident was drugs related was influenced by information she had received from the police.

Ms Lawes also apologised for writing that Ms Sturgess was an addict.

'This was an unprofessional comment to make''This was an unprofessional comment to make' (Image: Newsquest)

She said: “I now know there is no intelligence to support the assertion that Dawn Sturgess was herself a user of illegal drugs or an addict."

She added that she had always acted in good faith and based on what she thought was in the best interests of the individuals involved.

Detective Sergeant Eirin Martin also gave evidence to the inquiry.

She received a handover on the case from then-detective sergeant Lawes on July 2.

Ms Martin said the police’s initial hypothesis was that Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley had ingested drugs cut with pesticides, and this had caused them to overdose.

Because of this hypothesis she asked Wiltshire Police’s media team to send out a press release on July 2 warning of a potential “bad batch” of drugs.

She said: “At the point I made the press release in relation to the contaminated drugs that was, at that point, the primary hypothesis."