Schoolgirl jailed for acid attack on love rival pupil

Talented musician, 18, left scarred for life

A SCHOOLGIRL who severely injured a love rival in an acid attack has been jailed for 21 months.

Emily Bowen poured One Shot drain cleaner into fellow S6 pupil Molly Young’s viola case, destroying the instrument.

The liquid, which contained 91 per cent sulphuric acid, then spilled over Molly’s legs when she pulled the case from a shelf in the music room at Knox Academy in Haddington, East Lothian.

The two talented musicians were both members of the school’s orchestra but fell out when the victim started dating an ex-partner of Bowen, Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard.

Sentencing Bowen yesterday, Sheriff Michael O’Grady QC said the attack on September 29 last year was “utterly wicked”.

He told her: “You have left a young woman to suffer a terrifying ordeal and she will be both physically and mentally scarred for the rest of her life.”

Bowen, now 18, was also given a five-year non-harassment order, banning her from contacting Molly.

The teenage attacker previously admitted she had recklessly and culpably poured sulphuric acid into the viola case, causing it to spill onto Molly’s legs to her injury and permanent disfigurement.

Prosecutor Aidan Higgins said when police seized Bowen’s phone, they found evidence that she had researched stories about acid attacks and how long the perpetrators were jailed for.

Molly, 18, who needed plastic surgery after the attack, continues to suffer psychological problems and “shooting pains”.

Jim Stephenson, defending, said Bowen had recently been diagnosed with autism and was suffering from depression.

He said she “struggles to deal with things” and asked for a community order to be imposed.

But the sheriff said: “I have come to the conclusion that nothing but a custodial sentence is appropriate.”