Sergei Skripal latest: Ex-Russian spy leaves Salisbury hospital for first time since nerve agent attack

Sergei Skripal has been discharged from hospital, more than two months after he was poisoned by a nerve agent in Salisbury.

The Russian ex-spy has been in Salisbury District Hospital ever since he and his daughter, Yulia, were found unconscious on a park bench near the town centre on March 4.

Ms Skripal was discharged from hospital last month, a few weeks after policeman Nick Bailey, who was exposed to the poison when he came to help the stricken pair.

The Skripals were in a critical condition for weeks and doctors at one point feared that, even if they survived, they might have suffered severe brain damage.

In a statement, the hospital said: "While these patients have now been discharged, their right to patient confidentiality remains and limits us from giving detailed accounts of the treatment these individuals received.

"However, treating people who are so acutely unwell, having been poisoned by nerve agents, requires stabilising them, keeping them alive until their bodies could produce more enzymes to replace those that had been poisoned."

Salisbury District Hospital chief executive Cara Charles-Barks said: "It is fantastic news that Sergei Skripal is well enough to leave Salisbury District Hospital. That he, Yulia and DS Bailey have been able to leave us so soon after coming into contact with this nerve agent is thanks to the hard work, skill and professionalism of our clinicians, who provide outstanding care to all our patients, day in and day out.

"This has been a difficult time for those caught up in this incident - the patients, our staff and the people of Salisbury. I want to thank the public for their support, and I want to pay a special tribute to both the clinical staff here at the trust and those who work so hard behind the scenes.

"They've demonstrated the very best of the NHS."

The Metropolitan Police said that its investigation into the attack was continuing, and that it would not be discussing any security arrangements around the Skripals.

"Detectives from the UK's Counter Terrorism Policing network continue to investigate the attempted murders of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury in March this year," the force said in a statement.

"They are both making good progress and we are pleased that Mr Skripal has now also been released from hospital, which was announced by the NHS earlier this morning.

"This is a complex investigation and detectives continue to gather and piece together all the evidence to establish the full facts and circumstances behind this dreadful attack.

"In the interests of Sergei and Yulia’s safety, we will not be discussing any protective or security arrangements that are in place."

Britain and international chemicals weapons inspectors have said the Skripals were poisoned with Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s.

Russia has denied Britain's charges of involvement in the first known offensive use of such a nerve agent on European soil since World War Two. It has suggested Britain carried out the attack itself to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.