a woman has died after being exposed in england to a nerve agent. police say the death of dawn sturgess is now being investigated as a murder. her partner charles rowley remains in critical condition. he was also exposed to the same nerve agent used to poison a former russian spy and his daughter back in march. following this story our phil black. he is live in salisbury, england. phil, this is surely adding to the concerns of people there that even the possibility of coming into contact with this nerve agent is present. reporter: yeah, that s right, george. so it started with the attempted assassination of a former russian intelligence officer and his daughter, and now months later this latest extraordinary twist is the death of a british citizen from coming into contact with the same type of deadly nerve agent, novichok, a
her partner, charles rowley, remains in critical condition. he was also exposed to the same nerve agent used to poison a former russian spy and his daughter in march. following this story, our phil black is live from salisbury, england. phil, surely this is adding to the concern of people in that area about even the possibility of coming into contact with this nerve agent. reporter: yeah, george, that s right. you ll remember after the nerve agent was used in the attempted assassination of sergei skripal, the former intelligence officer and his wife back in march, the view of the british government was that in its view the russian government would dare to use a weapon like this, something that was so deadly, and so indiscriminate really. they felt that this was a truly reckless act. so there was enormous concern about risk to the public in the days and weeks after that. we saw people, large numbers of police and military move in and decontaminate the sites.
we are back now with a look at your morning s headlines. police in london are getting ready to launch a murder investigation into the death of dawn sturgess. she s 44 and died sunday after being exposed to novichok, a russian nerve agent. sturgess and her partner, charles rowley, who is critically ill, were exposed to the same poison used against a former russian spy and his daughter. in new york, harvey weinstein leaving court. the disgraced movie mogul pleading not guilty to two counts of predatory sexual assault and an act in the first degree. this alleged incident happened in 2006. weinstein s lawyer spoke to the media a couple minutes ago. mr. weinstein is not a predator. he is not a rapist.
that same nerve agent. abc s eva pilgrim on the scene in england. reporter: police at first thought this was a case of two people taking bad drugs. but this video capturing a first responder wearing protective gear, perhaps the first clue it was something more. tonight, we are now learning that a british man and woman, both fighting for their lives, were exposed to a potentially deadly nerve agent. this evening, i ve received test results from port and down that show that the two people have been exposed to the nerve agent novichok. reporter: novichok is the same nerve agent that nearly killed a former russian spy and his daughter after they were poisoned in march. that happening less than ten miles from where the man and woman collapsed saturday. the british pair tonight identified by friends in british media as charles rowley and dawn sturgess, in critical condition. as investigators retrace their steps, taping off the places they are thought to have been last.