Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were victims in a devastating poisoning that exploded into a massive global political event.
The pair were found paralysed and semi-conscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March 2018 and were left fighting for their lives.
The horror attack on the Skripal's with deadly nerve agent Novichok had wide-ranging ramifications - and cost one innocent woman her life.
Sergei and Yulia managed to defy the odds and escape with their lives - and their family had already been through much suffering.
The former Russian military intelligence officer's wife, son and older brother had all died in mysterious circumstances during the same four-year period.
Their lives changed forever back in December 2004 when Sergei was arrested outside his house in Moscow in and later convicted of high treason in the form of espionage.
Skripal was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment in a high-security detention facility and was stripped of his military rank in August 2006.
But in July 2010, he was freed along with three other Russian national after the UK government insisted he was part of a spy swap involving glamorous Russian agent Anna Chapman, who had been caught spying in the US.
He was pardoned by the then Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, but the former Colonel was later branded “a traitor” for spying for the West by Valdimir Putin.
The family moved to the tranquil city of Salisbury and purchased a house in 2011, but the following year they would be struck by tragedy.
Sergei's conviction had taken a toll on his wife Lyudmila, who was quickly reduced to begging for money as she could not afford to send the monthly sum her husband needed in prison for food and toiletries.
She even pleaded with the defence minister to restore her husband’s pension after he had been stripped of it - and for her efforts, over two years, was awarded 33,148 rubles and 89 kopeks, worth about £760 at the time
But Lyudmila’s health deteriorated and she was unable to afford medical bills.
Sadly, she died from disseminated endometrial cancer aged 59 in 2012, two years and three months after the spy swap, while she was in the UK.
There was a second bereavement within just five years when his son Alexandr passed away aged 43 in 2017.
Sergei’s son, who was known as Sasha, died after battling alcoholism due to his father’s situation, collapsing on a weekend trip to St Petersburg.
Alexandr died on holiday in Russia with his girlfriend after being taken to hospital with liver failure, and his family were suspicious about his death.
St Petersburg's respected Fontanka news agency said it could find no traces of Alexandr dying in the city.
His body was taken to Britain and both were buried in London Road Cemetery in Salisbury.
There were also mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Sergei's older brother almost two years to the day before the poisoning in Salisbury.
Valery Skripal died at the age of 68 after a military career serving in the elite Russian airborne troops.
He suffered extreme weight loss and became painfully thin in the months before his death - prompting fears he may have been subjected to something.
The former spy’s only direct family member left was his daughter, Yulia, who was back in Moscow with her boyfriend.
She had sold her father’s apartment, furniture and the double-headed eagle, the symbol of Russia, that he hung on the wall.
She bought herself a small place in western Moscow as she planned her marriage to Stepan Vikeev, who has not been seen since the poisoning.
Knowing her father would be unable to travel to the ceremony in Moscow, Yulia travelled to Salisbury on March 3 seeking his blessing for the wedding.
But just a day later they were found on a park bench foaming at the mouth - and it took hours for the police to realise they had been poisoned.
They had no idea it was Novichok until a few days later, meaning the detectives who touched them and searched their house were at risk.
Many believed they would never recover, but Yulia regained consciousness and was able to speak after three weeks in critical condition.
Her father was also in critical condition but regained consciousness one month after the attack and was discharged from hospital in May 2018.
Sergei's distraught mother was upset after hearing her son and granddaughter Yulia were unwell, but members of the family decided to keep the then 90-year-old in the dark on the exact details.
Talking to the Daily Mirror her apartment, 185 miles from Moscow in Yaroslavl, she said: “I just want to see and hold my son again for one more time.
“I want to hug him. I miss him so much. My eldest son is dead. Sergei is the only son I have left and I love him.”
Sergei was “heartbroken” at not being able to visit his wife and son’s graves, especially on what would have been her 66th birthday in January 2019.
He used to regularly tend the plots of wife Liudmila and son Alexandr in Salisbury, said a friend.
But the ex-spy and daughter were forced into hiding after leaving hospital following the Novichok attack.
A friend said: “Sergei loved spending time with his loved ones – he’ll be heartbroken he can’t go back.”
The poisonings sparked a huge diplomatic crisis between Britain and Russia.
Intelligence chiefs pointed the finger of blame at Vladimir Putin's Russia, but the country has denied wrongdoing.
Two alleged spies, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, are said to have carried out the bungled attempt to kill the Skripals.
But they later claimed they made a trip to Wiltshire to view Salisbury Cathedral.
Putin issued a chilling threat to Novichok victim Sergei, saying of double agents: “A person who chooses this fate will regret it a thousand times.”
The Russian leader’s personal vendetta emerged less than a week after British authorities said the assassination attempt on the ex-KGB spy in March was “almost certainly” approved by the Russian state.
Asked at the time for his thoughts on the deal, Putin, a former KGB colonel, said: “A person gives over his whole life for his homeland and then some bastard comes along and betrays such people.
“How will he be able to look into the eyes of his children, the pig. Whatever they got in exchange for it, those 30 pieces of silver they were given, they will choke on them. Believe me.”
He went on: “They will have to hide their whole lives. With no ability to speak with other people, with their loved ones.”
“You know, a person who chooses this fate will regret it a thousand times.”
Both Sergei and Yulia are now believed to have been given new identities and their whereabouts is not known.
The father and daughter's family now believe they have fled the UK to start a new life in a secret location abroad.