Acid attacks in Hackney: Police Treat Acid Attack Victim On Queensbridge Road, Hackney
Victim screamed in agony as moped thieves squirted acid into his face to leave him with ‘catastrophic injuries’ in one of FIVE attacks in 72 minutes in East London
A rider was ‘screaming in agony’ after a scooter gang sprayed acid in his face and stole his moped in one of five attacks in just 72 minutes last night.
The gang pulled up alongside five men between 10.25pm and 11.37pm and sprayed their faces with flesh-burning liquid.
Witnesses said one attacker riding pillion would jump off and steal the victim’s scooter with the other thief speeding away on the moped they arrived on.
The majority of victims are believed to be food delivery drivers – one was left with ‘life-changing’ injuries and was screaming while trying to wipe the acid off his face with a cloth.
Another man attacked a mile away was filmed having litres of water poured over his face by police to wash acid from his eyes.
The five attacks took place on busy streets in Stoke Newington, Hackney and Islington are all believed to be linked.
Scotland Yard said today that a 16-year-old has been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and robbery – but another suspect remains on the run today.
Map: This graphic illustrates where the shocking acid attacks took place last night – one suspect has been held and the other is on the run
The most serious has left a man with ‘life-changing injuries’ in Cazenove Road Stoke Newington, detectives said.
Local baker Samuel Leibowitz, 49, said he rushed to the scene to find the victim ‘screaming in agony’ and surrounded by 50 to 60 people who had flooded out of their houses.
He said: ‘I got a call from a friend of mine saying there was an attack. I came running down the road and I saw a gentleman leaning on the wall with a cloth over his face.
‘He was screaming in agony. There were people shouting and swearing. He was in a lot of pain’.
Samuel said he believes the victim was in his mid-20s.
He added: ‘I could not see his face as he was holding the cloth and he was in a lot of pain. There were lots of people around him.
‘People said he was attacked. I thought he must have been attacked with a knife or something but I saw the cloth and there were lots of people around him, so I didn’t actually approach him.
‘I realised there was no blood so I thought there must have been another acid attack.’
The shocking incidents come after a spate of acid attacks across Britain, including one on a 21-year-old model who was left with horrific burns to her face.
Experts say acid is becoming the weapon of choice for many criminals because it is not illegal to carry and can be bought freely from any hardware store.
Assaults using acid have more than doubled in England since 2012 – up from 183 five years ago to 504 in the year to March 2017. The majority have been in east London.
There were more than 1,800 reports of acid used in murders, robberies and rapes since 2010.
Last year acid was used in 454 crimes, up from 261 the previous year, with almost a third of the attacks carried out in the borough of Newham in east London, the figures show.
Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick told LBC: ‘Acid attacks are completely barbaric. I think, until recently, we haven’t seent this at all, incredibly infrequent in the UK. It’s something that has been used in other countries… I’ve known it in some Caribbean countries, I think it has been used in South America.
‘I don’t want people to think this is happening all over London all of the time, it’s not. But we are concerned but it seems to be going up. We will arrest people, we will enforce the law.
‘We are working with the Home Office to see if there can be any changes in the law.’
Last night police were called to the first attack at junction of Hackney Road and Queensbridge Road in Hackney at about 10.25pm.
The 32-year-old victim was sprayed in the face by the scooter gang after they pulled alongside him.
One of the riders then took his moped and his accomplice followed behind on the scooter they arrived on.
Witness Sarah Cobbold looked out from her flat near the Hackney Road attack to see police pouring huge bottles of water over the victim on her doorstep.
She said: ‘It was just outside my flat, the victim was literally stood on my doorstep.
‘Police had cordoned off the little area around the pavement and there was just a guy standing on my doorway and they were pouring huge, five-litre bottles of water over his head’.
Treat acid the same as knives, says MP
Tougher and more consistent sentences are needed for those found guilty of acid attacks, a former minister has said.
Stephen Timms (pictured) called for carrying acid to be made an offence and suggested licensing the purchase of sulphuric acid as he urged a change in sentencing guidelines.
The Labour MP, who will lead an adjournment debate on acid attacks in the Commons on Monday, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I think that the sentences for attacks of this kind should be reviewed – the guidelines for sentencing.
‘I think we should have tougher and also more consistent sentences for those who are found guilty of carrying out these attacks.’
Mr Timms said carrying a bottle of sulphuric acid without justification should be treated as an offence, like carrying a knife, and said there was a case to re-examine when it is appropriate to use stop and search powers.
He said: ‘I think that carrying acid should in itself be an offence, in the same way that carrying a knife wouldn’t have been an offence some years ago.
‘I think there’s been a pretty effective change – I think the same change should be made for acid.’
Mr Timms also called for sulphuric acid to be re-categorised so that a licence is required to buy the chemical, telling the programme: ‘Sulphuric acid is already covered by the Explosives Precursor Regulations introduced last year, but it’s in a kind of lower category in those regulations.
‘I think it should be raised to the higher category, which would mean you’d have to have a licence in order to buy it.’
Home Office Minister Sarah Newton said the Government was working on the three points raised by Mr Timms.
Ms Newton told the same programme: ‘I and my colleagues in the Home Office have been increasingly concerned about the escalation of incidents, especially in London, so we have been working with the Metropolitan Police and community policing on this for some months now.’
She added: ‘We are going through each and every one of those to make sure if there is more we can do, yes we will take more action.’
Mr Timms’ calls for tougher sentencing come after two males on a moped carried out five acid attacks across London in less than 90 minutes, according to police.
The assaults on Thursday night combined two worrying trends in the capital – acid attacks and moped-enabled crime.
Figures show a sharp rise in both over recent years.
https://youtu.be/uvQwYhLC_ls
As she watched, around 25 moped riders arrived – many appearing to be from fast-food delivery companies such as UberEats and Deliveroo.
She said: ‘I’m guessing maybe they had heard what happened and came down because they can’t have all been driving round together’.
‘I had thought someone must have chucked petrol or acid on him or something because they were covering him in water, but I have never seen that reaction to an attack, I thought maybe there had been an accident.
Little more than 20 minutes later, at around 10.50pm, another victim had been sprayed with searing liquid by the pair at the Upper Street junction with Highbury Corner, Islington.
The victim was taken to hospital in north London.
Then at around 11.05pm, the fast-moving attackers swooped on a man in Shoreditch High Street, tossing a substance in his face.
His injuries were not life-threatening, police said.
Within 15 minutes, they appeared to have struck again, launching their corrosive load at a man in Cazenove Road and causing ‘life-changing’ facial injuries.
The final assault of the night was reported to police at 11.37pm, when another man was confronted as he sat on his moped in traffic in Chatsworth Road.
After again spraying a liquid in a victim’s face, the moped was stolen and both attackers fled.
Hazardous area response units were sent by the ambulance service to four of the scenes, while the victim of the Chatsworth Road attack took himself to hospital.
The Met Police said in a statement: ‘Inquiries are ongoing and officers from Hackney CID are investigating.
‘All five incidents are being treated as linked at this time.
‘A male, in his teens has been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and robbery. He is currently in custody at an east London police station.
‘Enquiries are ongoing and officers from Hackney CID are investigating’.
The string of assaults comes just days after a man appeared in court accused of throwing acid at an aspiring model and her cousin.
Resham Khan, 21, and Jameel Muhktar, 37, were left with life-changing injuries after the attack on Ms Khan’s 21st birthday in Beckton, east London.
John Tomlin appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday charged with two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent.
A mass acid attack has also previously hit the capital this year.
On Easter Monday, acid was sprayed at a crowded east London club night, leaving two revellers partially blinded and others disfigured.
Arthur Collins, the former boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann, was charged in connection with the attack.
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