Guilty now face life sentences

LAST August, the CPS announced its latest guidelines on acid attack sentencing as part of a new crackdown.

Criminals who use corrosive liquids to burn their victims can now be jailed for life.

There were fears the offence, which comes under GBH laws, was being undersentenced. So judges will now use the same minimum sentences as those seen in crimes involving offensive weapons.

This tougher stance was introduced after it emerged the number of victims had doubled over the past decade.

In 2006/7, 44 acid patients were treated in hospital but, by 2016/17, this had risen to 109. They include beautician Adele Bellis, 23, who lost an ear and was scarred for life in an attack by her ex in 2014.

And in 2016, a couple were jailed for 25 years for carrying out a road-rage acid attack on stranger Darren Pidgeon, 29.

In 2017, a two-year-old boy was doused in acid while in a buggy being pushed by his dad in Islington, North London.