Nick Bailey has begun action over the trauma he continues to suffer three years after being exposed to the novichok nerve agent
Nick Bailey spent 17 days in a hospital and retired from Wiltshire police in October of 2020, saying that the impact of the nerve agent meant that he could no longer do his job.
The police officer was poisoned in the Salisbury novichok attack and has since lodged papers in the high court suing Wiltshire police over the trauma that he continues to suffer three years following being exposed to the novichok nerve agent.
Nick Bailey had been critically injured after coming into contact with novichok when he had entered the house of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal back in March of 2018.
Bailey, who was a detective sergeant for Wiltshire Police, spent 17 days in hospital and had retired from Wiltshire police in October of 2020, explaining that the impact of the nerve agent meant that he could no longer do his job.
This comes after ten people who were shot dead at Ballymurphy, in west Belfast, back in 1971 were innocent, and they were killed without justification, a coroner in the inquest has now ruled.
Patrick Maguire, Bailey’s lawyer, a partner at the law firm Horwich Cohen Coghlan, said on Wednesday that: “It has been a challenging three years for everyone affected by the events of March 2018.
“Our client experienced a trauma, which had a devastating effect on his family and forced him to leave the job he loved after more than 18 years of loyal service.
“We hope to come to a resolution very soon with Wiltshire police so that Mr Bailey and his family can continue the process of healing and move forwards with their lives.”
It is understood that Nick Bailey’s legal team has served a “letter before action” to Wiltshire police force around a year ago but is still waiting to hear whether or not the police force accepts the liability for the incident.
Bailey’s lawyers are planning to serve the full details of the claim to the high court in the summer if there is no resolution.
Patrick Maguire represents people who have suffered from “serious or catastrophic injury and families who have lost a loved one”.
The personal injury claim is being filed under “accidents at work” and comes five months after Bailey’s wife, Sarah, tweeted that Nick was still “fighting for part of his pension”.
Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, had also survived the novichok attack but at the end of June 2018 a Wiltshire woman, Dawn Sturgess, and her partner, Charlie Rowley, were poisoned in Amesbury, which is located eight miles north of Salisbury, after Rowley found a fake perfume bottle containing novichok. Rowley recovered but Sturgess, 44, died on 8 July.
This comes after Police are searching a café in Gloucester in connection with the disappearance of a teenage girl who was suspected of having been murdered by the notorious serial killer Fred West.
The role the Russian state played in Sturgess’s death is to be investigated in detail at her inquest.
Speaking to Wiltshire College for a podcast last month, Bailey told how he felt “overwhelming guilt” after his family were forced to leave their home after he had been contaminated it with the nerve agent.
He said: “The trauma for me was a prolonged trauma. I remember feeling pure panic and fear of the unknown because I had been poisoned by this nerve agent and you just don’t know where that is going to end.”
He said he initially struggled to do simple day-to-day tasks and is still on medication three years later.
Bailey is planning to write a book and is also offering himself as a keynote speaker on crises, resilience and mental health.
A Wiltshire police spokesperson said: “As a matter of policy it would be inappropriate of us to comment on private or potential legal matters relating to a former police officer.”
