Six months on and normality is becoming reality

We’ve been living in extraordinary times since March and last week was truly an extraordinary week.
We’ve all known that, behind the scenes, the police have been working painstakingly and meticulously to find out what happened on March 4, six months ago, and who was responsible.
Just how involved, challenging and difficult the work was became clear to all of us last week when the UK’s counter terrorism police and Crown Prosecution Service announced that two Russian agents had been identified and charged with the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
That despicable act also seriously injured DS Nick Bailey and, ultimately, caused the tragic death of Dawn Sturgess and injured her partner Charlie Rowley.
It was surreal, shocking and extraordinary to see the CCTV images of the alleged attackers at our city’s station and streets and it highlighted the magnitude of the investigative work that has been quietly but urgently been going on.
I would like to add my voice to the many others and say thank you to the police for their hard work and diligence to reach this position.
The communities of Salisbury and Amesbury continue to show determination to reclaim their city and town.
One by one the sites affected have been cleaned up and handed back helping the Salisbury we know and love to get back to normal.
After the dramatic news last week, we were also updated that work to clean-up the Skripal home in Christie Miller Road was under way.
The residents of Christie Miller Road; particularly those within the inner cordon, have endured six months of disruption, inconvenience and media attention.
They have been stoic and patient and I’m sure they will welcome the clean-up and while it’s likely to take some time, it is another illustration that Salisbury is turning a corner and normality is becoming reality.
Let’s hope that in six months from now we will have put this extraordinary time behind us and our focus will be on a positive and buoyant year ahead.