Skripal scandal: Soldiers dig up paving at poison attack scene
Soldiers dig up the site and collect samples of soil, turf and paving stones
Paving stones were removed after a military convoy arrived in Salisbury to begin a clean-up operation in the wake of the plot.
Experts were working in the park in the centre of the city where Mr Skripal, 66, and Yulia, 33, were found.
The bench is the first of nine sites to be cleaned in an operation that is expected to take several months.
Specialists working for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) will collect samples like soil, turf and paving stones for testing and cleaning to eradicate traces of the nerve agent Novichok.
Other sites which will be decontaminated are the two ambulance stations used in the recovery, a police station, the Zizzi’s restaurant where they had lunch, the garage their car was kept in and the home of Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was also poisoned.