Home of poisoned Russian spy Sergei Skripal is purchased by Wiltshire Council for £260,000 with plans for it to become shared ownership property after refurbishment
- Former home of poisoned ex-Russian spy was sold to Wiltshire County Council
- Council completed the purchase of the house for £260,000 in October last year
- Sergei Skripal found with daughter Yulia after poisoned with Novichok in 2018
- The deadly nerve agent had been sprayed onto their Salisbury home’s doorknob
The former home of an ex-Russian spy poisoned by Novichok has been purchased by Wiltshire County Council.
Sergei Skripal’s two-bedroom Salisbury residence, which has been scrubbed clean of the nerve agent, has been sold to the authority for £260,000.
The present-day value of the house is almost £390,000, but the Land Registry shows the council bought the house for the same price Mr Skripal paid for it in August 2011.
Now the house will be used by the council under its ‘shared ownership scheme and offered to local residents based ‘on an agreed market value’.
Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia were both found slumped on a bench in the city centre in March 2018 after the military-grade chemical Novichok was sprayed on the house’s front door handle.
Sergei Skripal’s two-bedroom Salisbury residence, which has been scrubbed clean of the nerve agent, has been sold to Wiltshire County Council for £260,000
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia (Pictured) were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury city centre last year after being poisoned by the nerve agent which had been sprayed on the house’s doorknob
The attack seriously injured police officer Nick Bailey and Salisbury resident Charlie Rowley, whose partner, Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after she found a perfume bottle containing Novichok and sprayed it on her wrist.
The suspected assassins – Russian intelligence officers Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin – were caught on CCTV as they travelled from Moscow to the Wiltshire cathedral city.
A third suspect, senior Russian agent Denis Sergeev, was believed to be the on-the-ground commander. All three fled back to Russia after their failed murder attempt.
The house was returned to Mr Skripal, although Wiltshire Council refused to say if the sale was done with his consent or if he will get the proceeds.
The nerve agent was sprayed on the property’s doorknob (pictured). The two suspects – known by their aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov – were caught on CCTV in Salisbury the day before the attack
They said: ‘We cannot divulge personal information about any individual to a third party. It would be in breach of data protection legislation.’
The council said it was going to buy the house on the third anniversary of the incident last year – but it took many months for the deal to be finalised.
The house was finally declared safe in September 2019 following a huge clear-up by the authority after the letterbox was smeared with the deadly nerve agent.
Yesterday Councillor Phil Alford – the Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Housing – added: ‘Following agreement from DEFRA we have formerly competed the transfer of 47 Christie Miller Road in Salisbury and it will be made available again as a home in the community.
Military teams spent months cleaning the two-bedroom property in Salisbury, and even removed its roof, back in 2019 before it was handed back to Mr Skripal
‘It will be refurbished and will soon be brought back into use under our shared ownership scheme and offered to local residents based on an agreed market value.
‘We’re pleased that this property located in a lovely area, will once again become a place that a family can call home where new happier memories can be created.
‘The community in Christie Miller Road has been through an awful lot over the last few years and we politely ask that their privacy is respected so that they can quietly live their lives in peace.’
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