Acid attack: British woman is jailed for life

LONDON: A “scheming” girlfriend who blinded her lover by pouring acid over his face and body as he slept has been jailed for life.

Katie Leong, 52, fantasised about throwing acid at someone after becoming obsessed with model Katie Piper, who was left disfigured in an acid attack almost a decade ago.

The attack, which blinded Piper in one eye, was arranged by Piper’s ex-boyfriend Danny Lynch and carried out by an accomplice Stefan Sylvestre. Both are serving life sentences for the attack.

A court heard Leong tested the effects of the 96% pure sulphuric acid on sausages.

She then crept into Daniel Rotariu’s bedroom with a halflitre bottle after the couple had had a row, leaving him with what a police officer said were the worst injuries she had ever seen.

Rotariu, 31, spent six months in hospital and faces 20 more operations after losing his sight in both eyes and being disfigured in an attack, which melted his bedding.

Sentencing Leong to a minimum of 17 years behind bars, Judge Justice Haddon-Cave said Leong had attempted to cover as much of the victim’s face as possible with the acid.

He added: “Mr Rotariu awoke and it felt as if boiling water was being poured over him and he issued an ear-splitting scream.

“You derived macabre pleasure of thinking about and carrying out your attack on Daniel Rotariu.

“You’d harboured a long-standing fantasy about throwing acid in someone’s face and kept a copy of Katie Piper’s book, called Beautiful, beside your bed.

“You’re a highly manipulative, scheming and controlling person. This offence was a breach of trust by you as Mr Rotariu’s girlfriend, and you grossly abused and exploited that trust and attacked him in the most cowardly of circumstances as he slept in his own bed, a bed he used to share with you.

“It’s a living catastrophe you’ve brought upon this man,” the judge said.

Following the case, it emerged that Leicestershire police are under independent investigation over its response to a tip-off that acid had been acquired ahead of a planned attack.

The force had also received reports that Leong and her co-accused Mark Cummings – her ex-boyfriend – were in contact, in breach of a restraining order on him after their relationship had ended in acrimony.

Cummings, 48, was used “like a puppet on a string” to buy the acid, the court heard. Leong then summoned him to the house where she lived with Rotariu in Leicester. When the pair were arrested at the scene, each said the other had poured the acid.

Cummings was cleared of attempted murder over the attack in July. – Daily Mail