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After leaving Erinys, Litvinenko took the pair to his favourite branch of Itsu in Piccadilly Circus, close to the Ritz.

That morning – at 11.49 – Lugovoi called Litvinenko from Gatwick airport to confirm their meeting that afternoon at the intelligence firm Erinys in Grosvenor Street.

Waiting for them was Tim Reilly, the Russian-speaking head of Erinys; he shook their hands and led them into the boardroom.

Atomic weapons experts later found "heaving" levels of radioactive contamination in the boardroom at Erinys, leading to the offices being closed for four months, the court heard.

Tim Reilly, a director at security firm Erinys, suffered migraines and vomiting after meeting Russians Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun with Mr Litvinenko.