Police to question man involved in latest Salisbury ‘poisoning’ scare amid hoax suspicion

Major operation was launched after the incident, which involved a man the media has described as a ‘prankster’ falling ill in the same city as ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter

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A policeman standing outside Prezzo restaurant in Salisbury where a ‘medical incident’ was reported on September 16. Photo: EPA

Published: 10:24pm, 20 Sep 2018Updated: 2:09am, 21 Sep 2018

Detectives are planning to speak to a man at the centre of a fresh poisoning scare in Salisbury on Thursday amid growing suspicion that the incident was a hoax.

Alex King and Russian-born Anna Shapiro were taken to hospital on Sunday evening after apparently falling ill at an Italian restaurant. A major incident was declared and the pair were tested for exposure to the nerve agent Novichok, but doctors quickly established they had not been the victims of a nerve agent attack.

An emergency vehicle outside Prezzo restaurant in Salisbury on September 16, 2018. Photo: AP

In a front-page story published in The Sun on Wednesday, Shapiro, a model and events manager, claimed they had been targeted by Moscow, six months after the former spy Sergei Skripal was attacked with Novichok in the cathedral city.

The tabloid said King was fighting for his life and suggested he may have been poisoned with strychnine. By Wednesday evening, however, the story was beginning to unravel as Salisbury district hospital released a statement saying both patients involved in the incident had been discharged and police sources said officers were looking into the possibility that the incident was a hoax.

A Wiltshire police spokesperson said on Thursday: “We have already spoken to the woman and we are planning to speak to the man today.”