Hillingdon acid attacks the most in west London

DOZENS of people in west London have been attacked with acid or other dangerous chemicals in the past three years, with the most incidents happening in Hillingdon.

The Metropolitan Police have recorded 833 crimes where the crime involved “noxious or corrosive liquids” or where the suspect caused explosions or threw corrosive fluids with intent to harm.

Seventy-two of these were in west London.

Hillingdon had the most with 12 followed by Brent with 11.

There were 22 recorded in 2015 and 39 in 2016.

The force has already recorded 11 in west London so far in 2017 up to April.

Across the capital these harmful chemicals were used in an array of serious crimes, from rape to robbery to personal violence.

There were 833 in London in total, excluding the City of London.

A total of 243 were in just one borough, Newham, in east London.

Superintendent Sean Wilson, of the east area basic command unit, said: “We are aware of a growing trend in the use of noxious substances in assaults.

“Assaults involving corrosive liquids such as acids are horrific and the impact on victims can be devastating.

“Noxious substances are easy to buy over the counter and we want to work with commercial traders to raise awareness that people buying these substances from their shops may intend to use those purchases as weapons.

“We would ask for parents, teachers and our communities to support us. If you know of a child or a pupil storing and carrying a noxious substance, then we must challenge them and ask them why.”

Nationally there were at least 1,300 crimes involving acid or other harmful chemicals in the UK in the past three years.

Our exclusive research comes after a spate of five acid attacks in a single night last week in Islington and Hackney.

Someone was sprayed with carpet cleaner in Malvern, Worcestershire, last year, while in Northampton three people were attacked by three others believed to be carrying battery acid in February this year.

More than half of all the 1,375 cases provided by 29 forces were in London. There was a big year-onyear rise in the nationwide total, from 463 in 2015 to at least 686 in 2016. So far this year forces have recorded at least 191 cases.