Britain’s security services were taken by surprise by the Salisbury Novichok poisonings when they were ordered by President Vladimir Putin as a show of “Russian power”, an inquiry has ruled.

Former Soviet spy Sergei Skripal was the intended target when Russian agents smuggled the deadly nerve agent into the UK disguised as a Nina Ricci designer perfume.

Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia were both hospitalised when they came into contact with Novichok on the front door handle of his home in Salisbury.

Retired Supreme Court judge Lord Hughes of Ombersley concluded on Thursday that the Russian agents were “astonishingly reckless” to discard the bottle of poison as they fled the UK.

When the Skripals survived the botched assassination attempt, Dawn Sturgess died after boyfriend C

See Full Page