Police officer nearly killed by Novichok during Salisbury poisonings quits force in bid to find 'peace'

A police officer who almost died after he was exposed to Novichok during the Salisbury poisonings in 2018 has announced he is quitting the force.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who returned to duty in 2019 following the attack in 2018, said he is leaving Wiltshire Police after 18 years because he 'had to admit defeat' and 'can no longer do the job'.

Posting the news on Twitter, he said: 'After 18 years in the Police Force I've had to admit defeat and accept that I can no longer do the job. 

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey said he is leaving Wiltshire Police after 18 years because he 'can no longer do the job'. He was left depressed after the attack in 2018

'I wanted to be a Police Officer since I was a teenager, I couldn't envisage doing anything else, which is why this makes me so sad.

'Like most Police Officers, I've experienced my fair share of trauma, violence, upset, injury and grief. 

'We deal with it, take it on the chin and keep going because that's our job. But we're still human and the impact this has shouldn't be underestimated.

'The events in Salisbury in March 2018 took so much from me and although I've tried so hard to make it work, I know that I won't find peace whilst remaining in that environment.

'Policing will remain in my heart and I feel honoured and privileged to have been part of Wiltshire Police.' 

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey was left vomiting and sweating with 'pin-prick eyes' after being poisoned by the nerve agent.

The Russian substance was put on the door handle of former GRU spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia's home.

Mr Skripal and Yulia were found unconscious on a park bench on March 4.

They were rushed to hospital and put in induced comas to prevent the poison damaging their organs.

Yulia left hospital in the April and was taken by police to a secret location, where she was guarded by British intelligence agents. Her father joined her a month later.  

At the time DS Bailey told how he was left depressed after the attack describing it as a 'terrifying and a very stressful time.'  

DS Bailey was poisoned by the nerve agent put on the door handle of former GRU spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia's (pictured together) home

But he also said he felt lucky he was alive because mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess tragically passed away.

Ms Sturgess and her partner Charlie Rowley fell ill at a flat in Amesbury, near Salisbury, after she handled a perfume bottle containing the poison.

Mr Rowley - who found the bottle and gifted it to 44-year-old Ms Sturgess - survived the killer nerve agent. However, Ms Sturgess, who sprayed her skin with the substance, died in July 2018.