Caught on camera... UK’s first acid killer

Nurse, 47, was burned after thug botched attack on rival

CLAD all in black, Xeneral Webster calmly cycles along with an acid bottle in his hand.

Moments earlier he had used the bottle to try to intimidate a rival in a dispute over drugs.

But it had been knocked from his grasp, splattering over Joanne Rand, who was sitting on a bench nearby after a visit to her daughter Charlotte’s grave.

Horribly burnt, the 47-year-old dementia nurse died 11 days later of multiple organ failure after contracting septicaemia.

The chilling images encapsulate the horror of the series of acid attacks that have blighted the nation’s streets.

Yesterday, Webster was jailed for 17 years for Britain’s first acid killing. As he was sent down, the 19-year-old shouted: ‘All of you will probably be dead by the time I am out of here. F*** you, bro.’

He had admitted the manslaughter of Miss Rand part-way through his trial at Reading Crown Court in April.

During the sentencing hearing, Miss Rand’s sister, Jacqueline Joiner, looked directly at Webster and said: ‘You killed Jo, you took her away from us, you did this to our family. Whatever sentence you get will never be enough to give us justice for the loss of Jo.’

Mrs Joiner, 61, said her sister had been in agony because the ‘acid had eaten away at her skin down to the muscle’.

She added: ‘We watched the life drain out of her, body shutting down, just watched her die and it was the most horrendous day of my life. All of our lives.’

The UK has one of the world’s highest rates of attacks involving corrosive substances. Police figures show there were 400 acid attacks in 2016 and 700 in 2017.

On the day of the attack on Miss Rand – June 3 last year – Webster travelled from his home in Acton, west London, to confront Saqib Hussain in Frogmoor, High Wycombe, over a drugs dispute.

When he spotted Mr Hussain, Webster took the acid bottle from a satchel he was holding and undid the lid before pointing it at his intended victim. Mr Hussain knocked it out of the 19-year-old’s hand and kicked it away. The bottle travelled 42ft before hitting Miss Rand. The acid went onto her hair, face, arms and feet.

Screaming, she ran to a KFC restaurant where she doused herself with water before calling 999. Webster, meanwhile, had covered his face with a black balaclava and escaped on Mr Hussain’s bicycle with the now empty acid bottle.

He was charged with murder on the basis he meant to cause serious injury to his intended target. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter halfway through his trial.

Passing sentence, judge Angela Morris said: ‘You and your actions bear the responsibility for her tragic demise. The cost of your actions was incalculable and irreparable for her family and friends and there is no sentence which this court can pass which can replace the value of her life.’

She ordered Webster to serve an extended licence period of three years after his 17-year jail term because of the risk he poses.

‘We watched the life drain out of her’