A Russian flag was hung briefly from scaffolding on Salisbury Cathedral, almost a year after the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with novichok in the city. The flag was taken down on Sunday after cathedral staff were made aware of it. It is thought someone climbed the scaffolding and put it there overnight.

The first anniversary of the nerve agent attack on Skripal, 67, and his daughter Yulia, 33, who were discovered collapsed on a park bench in the city centre, will fall on 4 March. Two men identified as suspects for carrying out the attack, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, went on Russian state-funded TV in September last year to claim they had travelled to Salisbury as tourists, to visit its cathedral.

Jo Broom, a Conservative councillor for the St Martin’s and Cathedral ward of the city, said: “My initial reaction was one of huge shock and disbelief that someone would think this was in any way a good thing to do. If it was a joke, it was in very poor taste. Particularly when we are going into the first anniversary of the novichok attack, and are trying to move forward and look to the positive.”

Angry Salisbury residents called the act “disgusting” and “insensitive” after Dawn Sturgess, 44, died from novichok contamination when she used a perfume bottle containing the nerve agent in June last year. One posted on social media: “It is in poor taste. Remember an innocent victim, Dawn Sturgess, lost her life because of it. I am sure her grieving family, especially her young daughter, do not find this amusing.”(theguardian)…[+]