Britain hit by rise in acid attacks as 700 are maimed by weapons made from household products in a year
Worrying trend shows even schoolkids are using acid to settle playground disputes as calls grow for tougher sentences
BRITAIN is being hit by an alarming rise in acid attacks – with two victims burned every day, a Sun investigation can reveal.
The increase is being fuelled by gangs switching from using knives and guns to try to avoid tougher sentences if caught.
Police figures show that there were 454 victims last year — up from 261 in 2015.
But the true number may be more than 700, according to charity Acid Survivors Trust International.
Our probe also reveals how schoolkids are using corrosive substances — often containing 90 per cent sulphuric acid — to settle playground squabbles.
One pupil, who began carrying acid aged 13, told The Sun it has become the weapon of choice.
He said: “It’s easy to buy and will mess someone up good. I feel safer carrying it to school.
“For a fiver you get drain cleaner, or you can buy ammonia for £3 and keep it in a drinks bottle. I kept ammonia in a bottle.
“A lot of people haven’t got the heart to stab someone. It’s just easier to squirt them.
“I’ll be in a situation where guys will have a knife. You can squirt them — and they’re going to drop their knife.”
These so-called “face melters” can have devastating long-term effects.
Two years ago, The Sun on Sunday called for the Government to make it illegal for under-18s to buy household products containing acid or ammonia.
Today, we are repeating that call and demanding tougher sentences for anyone convicted of using them in an attack. The campaign is backed by MPs and victim support groups.
Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, said: “Any other dangerous substance would be subject to far greater checks.
“Yet sulphuric acid, which is capable of killing somebody, or severely disfiguring them, is as available as sweets in a shop.”
One 18-year-old student from East London told us: “Most people use drain cleaner because most corner shops have it.
“When you squirt it out of a sports drinks bottle it can go quite far.
“Last summer some boy had it in his eye and his eye got mashed up. He was in hospital for a few days.”
In 2008, when model Katie Piper was almost blinded in a revenge attack arranged by her ex-boyfriend, violence using acid was rare.
But the number of attacks has seen a sharp increase, with nearly 70 per cent of them being carried out by men or boys on other men or boys.
Jaf Shah, of the Acid Survivors Trust International, says: “Per head of population the UK has more male-on-male acid attacks than any other country in the world.
“The numbers may be even higher than we fear because most acid survivors just want to move on with their lives.”
Last month Towie star Ferne McCann’s ex-boyfriend, scaffolder Arthur Collins, 25, was arrested after an attack in which 20 people were sprayed with a corrosive chemical at Mangle nightclub in Dalston, East London.
The assault in the early hours of Easter Monday left two people blind in one eye and two men with severe facial injuries.
That attack was one of four in London over the Easter period.
In Islington, North London, a family out for a stroll with their two-year-old son in a pushchair had acid thrown at them and had to be doused with water by passers-by.
The 40-year-old father suffered “life changing” injuries.
On Good Friday afternoon, a man in his twenties was driving his Audi S3 in Bow, East London, when he was shunted from behind by a four-wheel drive.
When he got out to inspect the damage, he was sprayed with ammonia before the attackers stole his car.
A few days later a teenager suffered severe burns to his face and neck after being attacked with acid in Fulham, West London.
Former gang member Colin James, 46, said: “Acid is more dangerous than a gun or a knife. It’s probably the worst thing to hit the streets since gangs have been on the rise.
“It’s silent, easily accessible, it’s not metal so can go without detection and is easy to conceal.
“I’d prefer to get shot or stabbed than have acid thrown over me.
“Because of the damage that acid does, and the amount of people you can spray at one time, it’s become the weapon of choice.”
Just carrying a gun or a knife is a criminal offence but there is no penalty if you are caught in possession of corrosive chemicals.
And thugs using acid are usually charged with GBH, rather than wounding with intent, so often get much lower sentences.
Colin, who is a mediator for the charity Gangs Unite, added: “Kids don’t understand the severity of what they’re doing. In the video games they play, if you die you can start again.
“They don’t realise the impact the horrendous acid attacks have on victims and their families.
“Young people follow trends. Once one group starts it they all copy.
“So it’s going to be an epidemic until some kind of action is put in place.
“I want to see the same kind of controls as there are on guns.
“It’s hard to police but the idea of age restrictions has to be something the Government can do.
“You don’t want young people getting a hold of it or you’ll start getting them spraying each other in the school playground.”
No restrictions on sales to kids
THERE are age restrictions on retailers selling items including knives, alcohol, fireworks, tobacco and petrol.
But there is no law to prevent shops letting youngsters buy household cleaners, which can contain acids or equally harmful ammonia, a highly corrosive alkaline.
Some chain stores choose not to sell these products to people under 21.
But youngsters we spoke to said it was easy to buy them at corner shops.
Jaf Shah says: “You would hope that retailers would use their discretion.”
‘I wanted to die’
DARREN PIDGEON shudders every time he reads about the latest acid assault.
Nearly three years ago, he suffered horrific burns in a road-rage attack.
With his car trapped in a cul-de-sac after a minor incident, laughing thug Ashley Russell squirted a bottle of acid over his face through the open driver’s window.
Dad-of-two Darren was left slumped at the wheel with the skin peeling off his face. The seats and dashboard of his Citroen Picasso melted around him.
Darren, 30, says: “Every time I read about an attack it brings the memories flooding back. I know how the victims feel.
“I know the dark days they will have and the pain of the endless skin grafts.
“My attacker got 12 years. I have to live with it for the rest of my life. Three years on I haven’t really recovered.
“I’ve had skin grafts on my face, above my nose and in my hair. I have lost a third of my hair.
“I have to wear it long and messy to hide the scars.
“I’m trying to find work but it’s a struggle.
“I still have really dark days. When everything goes wrong I blame it on the acid attack.
“After the attack I didn’t want to go on. I wanted to take my own life.
“I have two boys, who are four and nine, who need their dad and I want to be positive in life for them.”
‘Felt like a flame on skin’
CONNOR LEEMAN was one of five pals doused with corrosive drain cleaner by a teenager in an unprovoked attack at Ockenden railway station in Essex in 2016.
Connor’s friend Lee Elliott was 17 at the time of the attack.
He suffered the worst burns and may never fully recover his sight.
Ship rigger Connor, 18, recalls: “This lad had the bottle and squirted it and threw it at our faces. I remembered how my mate’s dad got attacked with acid over a stupid little £5 bet.
“He got put in the back of a car and they squirted acid all over him. As soon as the liquid hit, I said, ‘It’s acid’.
“It went right up the side of my face, the right side of my body and in and around my mouth.
“It was like putting a flame on to your skin until it burns to blisters. Within minutes we were blistered and burning.
“There’s still scarring from the top of my right eye down to my nose. I lost half my taste sensation in my tongue.
“Lee’s face has cleared up a bit but his eyesight is still blurry.
“He’s really paranoid now. I can’t even have his number.
“I was there with him during the attack and I can’t even have his number.
“He says, ‘I don’t like random people phoning me’.”
Their attacker, Alexander Bassey, who was 17 at the time of the offence, was sentenced to eight years in custody.
Acid test
WE took a heavy-duty drain cleaner containing 91 per cent sulphuric acid – which can be bought from any regular DIY store – and tested it on a baby grow, a book, a slice of lamb and a piece of pork.
Here’s what happened:
BABY GROW: The cotton garment, left, dissolved in half in just a minute.
LAMB: The first layer of meat was worn away in seconds.
In five minutes the acid had made a hole nearly half a centimetre deep.
BOOK: The pages of the book, far right, turned black within seconds.
PORK: The drain cleaner dissolved around a quarter of a centimetre in five minutes.