THE police officer who was poisoned with Novichok in the Russian nerve agent attack in March has spoken for the first time about his experiences.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, from Alderholt in Dorset, was left critically ill after attending Sergei Skripal's home in Christie Miller Road on March 4, after the Russian former spy and his daughter were found unconscious in the city centre.

DS Bailey and two colleagues searched the home, and the officer said they were wearing full forensic suits.

“I was the first person into the house," he said. "We had to make sure that there were no other casualties in the house.

"It was vital for us to find out what had actually happened to them."

DS Bailey said the house was "in darkness" and the officers found "nothing untoward there", so left the house, took off the forensic suits which they "bagged up" and then went back to the station.

But shortly afterwards the father-of-two began to feel unwell.

"My pupils were like pin pricks, and I was quite sweaty and hot.

"At that time I put it down to being tired and stressed.”

He went to bed hoping to sleep it off, but by Tuesday was feeling even worse and his family rushed him to Salisbury District Hospital.

“Everything was juddering, I was very unsteady on my feet," he said. "My whole body was dripping with sweat.”

And he said he was "petrified" to find out the illness had been caused by exposure to a deadly nerve agent.

"I didn't understand how it had happened, [I was] scared because it's the fear of the unknown because it's such a dangerous thing to have in your system."

It wasn't until 15 days after the attack that investigators learned the poison had been smeared on Mr Skripal's door handle.

But DS Bailey said he didn't know how he'd come to be contaminated, and said it could have "gone through" his gloves or that he could have adjusted his face mask or goggles while in the house.

"It's such an outrageous, dangerous way of doing something that it angered me as well, because any number of people could have been affected by that," he added.

He was treated alongside Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who had been visiting from Moscow, in Salisbury's intensive care unit.

While the Skripals were in a coma, DS Bailey said he was conscious the whole time.

"It was painful at the beginning….I had lots of injections," he said. "I had five or six infusions at any one time in my arms.

"One of the Skripals was in the room right next to me. It was all guarded by the police.”

He was released from hospital after almost three weeks.

DS Bailey, his wife and children were unable to return home, as he had unknowingly contaminated the property when he returned on March 4.

"Physically I think I bounced back pretty well, thanks to the hospital," he said, but said his emotional wellbeing was "a different kettle of fish".

"That’s taken longer. I describe it as emotional battering and psychological impact "It’s taken longer to deal with just because of everything that has happened to us. Not only did we lose the house, we lost all of our possessions, including everything the kids owned, we lost all that, the cars. We lost everything.

"And yeah it’s been very difficult to kind of come to terms with that.

He added: “I have passing moments where I think about how it could affect me [in the long term].

"But I can’t control that, it’s happened now and we just have to take each day as it comes.

"The public reaction has been overwhelming actually and I wish I could thank everybody.”

DS Bailey's full exclusive interview was broadcast on BBC One last night (Thursday) on Panorama: Salisbury Nerve Agent Attack - The Inside Story.