Amesbury major incident: Couple exposed to 'unknown substance' attended family fun fair hours before falling ill
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A couple fighting for their lives after exposed to an 'unknown substance' in Wiltshire attended a family fun fair just hours before they were found unconscious.
The man and woman, both in their 40s, were discovered on Saturday evening at a home in Amesbury - just miles from where the Skripals were poisoned - and remain critically ill in hospital.
One of the last places they were seen in public was a hog roast and family fun fair organised by the Amesbury Baptist Church.
Health officials don't believe there is a significant health risk to the wider public, and no advice has been issued to people who may have been in contact with the couple.
Do you know the couple in Amesbury? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk.
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Wiltshire Police have declared a major incident and said it was not clear if a crime had been committed, but detectives are keeping an "open mind".
A number of places known to have been visited by the couple in and around Amesbury and Salisbury have been cordoned off as a precaution.
They include the home in Muggleton Road, where the man and woman were found unconscious, and nearby Amesbury Baptist Church.
Police also had cordons at a Boots store in Amesbury and a Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury.
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Church secretary Roy Collins said a family fun day was one of the last places the couple was seen in public before falling ill.
The free event was held from 2-5pm on Saturday at Raleigh Crescent Green, featuring a hog roast and bouncy castles, games and entertainment for families, according to a Facebook event listing.
Drone footage posted on the church's Facebook page shows children playing on bouncy castles, people queueing for food and others gathered under gazebos or tents to stay cool amid this summer's heatwave.
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Mr Collins said: "Last weekend we held a community fundraiser and we understand this may well be the last event this couple went to in public."
He said he woke to find the church cordoned off by police at 6am on Wednesday.
"We are all quite puzzled and shocked - naturally the connection with Salisbury and recent events there mean there is a heightened public interest," he added.
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"We are praying for the couple, one of our members knows them and clearly there are concerns for them and any others in the community.
"They are not church members or regulars."
Wiltshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson said there is no indication the incident is linked to the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia earlier this year.
Tests are being carried out to identify the substance, which was initially thought to have been from a bad batch of heroin or crack cocaine.
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Police said: "It was initially believed that the two patients fell ill after using possibly heroin or crack cocaine from a contaminated batch of drugs.
"However, further testing is now ongoing to establish the substance which led to these patients becoming ill and we are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances surrounding this incident."
Both remain in a critical condition at Salisbury District Hospital.
It is believed the Muggleton Road address is in a new housing development in the town near Stonehenge.
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Health officials who are part of a multi-agency response have assured the wider public that they are not at significant risk.
A Public Health England (PHE) spokesman said: "The current advice from PHE England, based upon the number of casualties affected, is that it is not believed that there is a significant health risk to the wider public.
"This will be continually assessed as further information becomes known."
The couple were taken to Salisbury District Hospital, which is open as usual and is advising people to still attend routine appointments unless they are contacted to state otherwise.
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Mr Macpherson told the BBC there's present indication that the incident in Amesbury is connected to the Skripal case at present, and police have been working hard to contain "any risk that might be there".
He added: "I haven't seen anything in this incident yet that I would consider to be an overreaction, it all seems fairly textbook."
A Government spokesman said: "Ministers are being kept up to date about the incident in Amesbury."
Mayor of Amesbury councillor Margaret Strange said she was in the dark about what happened.
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After speaking to police at the address in Muggleton Road, she said: "I know as much as anybody else."
Asked if she was worried with this incident happening so soon after the Skripals, Ms Strange replied: "Well, obviously, because when you think like that happening a few yards from your own home.
"I am not saying a single thing because I don't know anything.
"I only know there was an incident and I know nothing more than that."
People with information about the incident are asked to call Wiltshire Police on 999.
People in and around Amesbury and Salisbury can expect to see an increased police presence.
The Skripals were left poisoned by a suspected military-grade novichok nerve agent in March in Salisbury, about seven miles south of Amesbury.
Double agent Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter, 33, were left fighting for life and spent months in a coma.
Yulia was discharged from Salisbury District Hospital on April 10 and taken to a secure location. Her father was released on May 18.
Prime Minister Theresa May accused Russia of carrying out the attemped murder of the Skripals - a claim Moscow has denied.
The Skripals were found slumped on a park bench in Salisbury city centre on March 4 after visiting a local pub and restaurant, and immediate reports said it was thought the pair had overdosed on drugs.
However it soon emerged that the pair had been exposed to a potentially deadly agent.
In the aftermath, Public Health England said the risk to the public was low.
But the agency faced a backlash days later when it advised people who visited the same pub or restaurant to wash their clothes immediately and clean mobile phones, jewellery, spectacles and other items they had with them.
Angry locals said they should have been told sooner.