Horrific life-long injuries, lax laws and why acid attacks are burning a hole through Britain
ADELE Bellis is reminded every morning of the day her life changed for ever.
The beautician looks into the mirror and sees a face ravaged by the acid that burned through her skin and scorched her hair.
Adele, 25, is one of the growing number of victims in the UK who have been left cruelly disfigured by a disturbing new trend.
She is bravely speaking out after yet another shocking acid attack in London, where five people were seriously injured in an horrific 90 minute spree.
"I look in the mirror every day," she told The Sun Online.
"You get used to the scarring, but I will never forget what happened to me."
A few years ago, acid attacks were typically only heard of in so called 'honour attacks' or on the Indian sub-continent.
But in the past few years, the stiff sentences handed down for knife crime and the easy availability of acid in household products has seen a sharp rise in attacks.
Incredibly, an acid attack can only lead to a charge of GBH, whereas a knife attack carries the much more serious charges of wounding with intent or attempted murder.
Adele, who had sadly also once been the victim of a knife attack, is in no doubt which is worse.
'I was back at work after two weeks when I was stabbed,' she said.
'But the effects from the acid being thrown at me will stay with me for ever, and the psychological effect is the worst.
"If someone carries out a knife attack, they get a longer sentence but an acid attack is a lot, lot worse.
"It isn't even just the victim that has to deal with the attack - I still remember how my mum and dad were and they won't ever get over it.
"The jail sentences need to be longer - there isn't a set guideline so it varies from person to person and there's no consistency.
"Until something is done and the sentences become longer, these attacks will keep happening."
Adele, now 25, was walking through Lowestoft in August 2014 when she noticed a jogger with his face covered "shaking a bottle" as he ran past her.
As she chatted happily to a friend on the phone, she was splashed in the face with acid.
She said: "I was just running in and out of traffic and was in so much pain.
"I was burning all over and felt like I was melting to the ground.
"I was shouting 'I need water, I need water' but when someone threw some over me, it just made me smoke."
Her ex-boyfriend, Anthony Riley, 26, had abused her in the six months leading up to the attack in August 2014.
He was jailed for life after it emerged he had paid accomplice Jason Harrison, 27, to throw acid on his ex at a bus stop near her home in Suffolk.
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Adele's story is becoming all too familiar in Britain.
The number of acid attacks is now on the rise across the UK, with 454 victims last year alone - up from 261 in 2015.
The shocking figures mean two attacks are being carried out every day as thugs switch from guns and knives to avoid tougher sentences.
A bottle of acid can be bought for just £1 in any DIY store and can be carried around without arousing suspicion.
And a litre of concentrated forms of acid can be purchased for as little as £7 in a hardware shop.
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.
Shops currently have to report children or teenagers acting suspiciously when they buy acid or strong household cleaners, but there is no age restriction on its sale.
Since 2012, more than 500 offences in which people were have been recorded by police forces across the UK.
There were also 242 reports of violent crime which mentioned acid or other corrosive substances across 23 forces in 2014 and 2015.
This is compared to 186 alleged offences in 2012 and 2013.
Nearly 70 per cent of attacks are being carried out by men or boys on other men or boys.
Alarming figures released earlier this year show London has become a hotspot for acid attacks, with 431 reported in 2016 - up from 261 the previous year.
And there have been 1,500 acid attacks since 2011 but there are fears the number is much higher as some victims choose not to report the crime.
Although attacks are on the rise across the capital, they have mainly taken place in North and East London.
Newham borough accounted for 398 reports last year, followed by Barking & Dagenham, which had 134 acid attacks.
There were four attacks in the space of just 11 days after a family were doused in acid in Islington, North London, on April 8.
On Good Friday, a man in his 20s was driving his Audi S3 in Bow when he was shunted by a car behind. When he got out to inspect the damage, he was sprayed in the face with ammonia and pushed to the ground before the carjackers sped off.
And a teenager suffered "life-changing" burns on his face and neck after he and a female friend were sprayed with acid in Fulham, west London.
According to figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request to the Metropolitan Police, "corrosive fluids" were used in murders, robberies and rapes.
Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham, is leading a Parliamentary debate on acid attacks next week.
One of the key things he is calling for is a reclassifying of sulphuric acid - so people need a licence to buy it.
Acid attacks and the law
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.
Speaking to The Sun he explained it is already a restricted substance under rules on buying “explosives precursors” - bomb-making equipment- but is at the lower grade.
This only requires shop-owners to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious purchasing the acid - but the Labour member wants it bumped up to the higher category and prevent it being acquired so easily by criminals.
This measure has been suggested by the British Retailers Consortium themselves as a way of solving the growing number of attacks.
Mr Timms is also calling for the carrying of acid in public to be a specific offence, in the same way carrying a knife is.
He has called for tougher sentencing, and clearer guidelines as many cases end up in wildly different punishments.
He said: “There is evidence criminals are using acid because they think it is less risky than carrying a gun or a knife.
“We need to make it more risky.”
Sarah Newton, a Home Office minister, was asked on Sky News this morning if she agreed with Mr Timms that it was now time for the Government to look at putting restrictions on the purchase of the chemicals.
She said: “Yes we are working with retailers to see what further restrictions we can put in place
“But we all have to recognise these substances are underneath all of our kitchen sinks, next to our loos in the bathroom.
“These are commonly available substances, so it is not an easy problem to solve.
“But we are determined to do something about it.”
Ms Newton added her department was putting together an action plan looking at what measures can be put in place using the Poisons Act.
And she said they were looking at how to prosecute theses offences so “they have very strong sentences as a deterrent”.
'I wanted to die'
Darren Pidgeon suffered horrific burns when thug Ashley Russell squirted a bottle of acid over his face through the open driver’s window in a road rage attack.
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.
He told The Sun in May: "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.”
'She wanted to destroy my looks'
Naomi Oni, 25, was attacked by former friend Mary Konye on her way home from her job at a Victoria’s Secret store in South East London in December 2012.
She was left scarred for life after suffering serious burns on her face and chest following the attack over a "trivial, insignificant" argument.
Naomi said in May: "She wanted to destroy how I looked; it was the ultimate thing she could do.
"In this age of social media, where physical appearance is the most important thing to us, a lot of people would not be able to handle this.
“People get famous because of how they look, go viral because of how they look, get a reality show because of how they look.
"People think if they look a certain way, it gains a certain type of success. Someone who does this to someone knows they will struggle the rest of their life.”
Naomi is still recovering from the horror attack and had skin from her knee grafted to her face, and needed her eyelids replacing.
She is was due to undergo a fifth round of laser surgery in May, and had skin on her scalp extended so her hairline could be brought forward last year.
In addition to the physical scars, she suffers from depression, anxiety and PTSD.
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