NOT FUNNY

Latest Salisbury ’Poisoning’ Incident Could Be a Hoax: British Police

A couple apparently fell ill in an English restaurant Sunday.

When a British couple fell ill Sunday in a restaurant in Salisbury, England—the same city where former spy Sergei Skripal was targeted this year—there was understandable concern that lightning had struck twice and a major incident was declared. One of the pair, Russian-Israeli model Anna Shapiro, told The Sun newspaper Tuesday that she believed she’d also been targeted by Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. But British police now think the whole incident could be a hoax. Shapiro’s husband, Alex King, who was hospitalized from the apparent poisoning, is a convicted criminal and reportedly once hoaxed Prince Charles. The Sun has since removed its sensational article—which also contained glamorous photos from a shoot with Shapiro—from its website “for legal reasons.” Police sources told the BBC they’d spoken to Shapiro, but until King had been interviewed “we can’t rule anything in or out.”