Acid-attack burglar is caged for 18 years after sickening spree

A SICK burglar who scarred a pensioner for life during a string of frightening acid attacks has been jailed for 18 years.

Gerard Whelan left the 69-year-old with burns to a quarter of her body in a raid at her home by spraying sulphuric acid at her.

The 45-year-old broke into her East London home. She woke to find him standing over her bed with a screwdriver. He said: “If you don’t be quiet, I will kill you.” He took her rings and bangles, but as she tried to escape, he squeezed the liquid at her, Wood Green crown court heard.

She was hospitalised for eight weeks and forced to undergo skin grafts to her arms, legs, body and face. The woman, one of 10 people Whelan attacked in three days in December, was said to be “so scared” that it was “some time before she felt brave enough to venture outside for help”.

Judge Joanna Greenberg QC told him: “The impact on her life and wellbeing has been immeasurable. Put simply, you have ruined her life.” He admitted GBH with intent and aggravated burglary. He also sprayed liquid at a 39-year-old mum taking her daughter to school but missed.

Whelan, from Paddington, West London, then almost blinded a 38-year-old woman with the liquid, trying to steal her handbag.

And on Christmas Day, he squeezed acid in the face of a 36-year-old.