Two paramedics ignored incorrect police advice and saved a man’s life after recognising that he was suffering the possible symptoms of Novichok, an inquiry has heard.

       Charlie Rowley was given atropine to counter the effect of nerve agent poisoning by paramedic Benjamin Channon and his colleague Lee Martin, after they were called to his home by a friend.

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       The two paramedics identified his symptoms as likely to have been caused by the same type of nerve agent poison that had struck down Sergei Skripal, the former Russian spy, and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, four months earlier.

       Mr Channon and Mr Martin put on special personal protection equipment, including masks and gloves, and ignored two police officers who insisted that Mr Rowley was suffering from a drugs overdose.

       Mr Channon said he questioned why they had discounted the possibility of nerve agent poisoning and recalled that they became “heated” in insisting it was a drugs overdose.

       But remembering what they had learnt about the earlier Salisbury attack, the paramedics treated Mr Rowley and injected him with atropine.

       Mr Rowley, who had moments earlier been exhibiting extremely unusual behaviour, such as “mooing” like a cow and salivating profusely, soon began to display some signs of improvement.

       Mr Channon and his colleague had been called to Mr Rowley’s home in Amesbury several hours after his girlfriend Dawn Sturgess had collapsed into a coma when she inadvertently sprayed herself with Novichok she thought was a bottle of perfume he had given her.

       The 44-year-old mother of three died eight days later from the same nerve agent used in the attack on Mr Skripal and his daughter in March 2018.

       Mr Channon told the inquiry into her death: “His [Rowley] behaviour was very different to anything we had ever seen. Most likely this we thought was very similar to what we’d learnt following the Salisbury incident following the exposure of the Skripals.

       “Everything at this point was pointing to someone who was incapacitated from what we believed to be the potential of a nerve agent poisoning and we felt it was prudent to administer this medicine [atropine]”

       Mr Channon had earlier discounted the possibility that Mr Rowley had taken an overdose of opiate drugs, such as heroin, as he was not displaying the right symptoms.

       Despite finding syringes during a search of Mr Rowley’s flat, Mr Channon and Mr Martin continued with their working diagnosis that this was organophosphate or nerve agent poisoning.

       Following emergency treatment at the scene, Mr Rowley was transferred to Salisbury District Hospital, where he later made a full recovery from the effects of Novichok poisoning.

       He later told police that he had given the bottle of Nina Ricci perfume to Ms Sturgess as a present and that she had collapsed and begun foaming at the mouth just 15 minutes after spraying herself with it.

       Mr Rowley recalled some of the liquid had spilt onto his skin when he had opened the bottle packaging and fitted a spray applicator.

       The inquiry heard on Thursday from a senior ambulance commander who said there had been a “breakdown” of the joint emergency service principles when the police tried to “override” the ambulance crew.

       Wayne Darch, the deputy director of South West Ambulance Service, told the inquiry that there had since been discussion at management level to make sure it did not happen again.