Moped yobs arrested following life-changing acid attacks

Officers called at an address this-morning where a 15-year-old youth was taken into custody on suspicion of GBH and robbery.

After a pair of teenage boys on scooters launched an acid attack and theft rampage in various areas of #London, targeting five victims in only 90 minutes, two suspects have been arrested.

The attacks were reported to police over a 72-minute period, with four taking place in the eastern borough of Hackney and one in the northern borough of Islington.

The attacks began when two assailants on a scooter pulled up to a man on another scooter at an intersection, threw a corrosive substance in his face, and then stole his vehicle, police said.

“Acid attacks are completely barbaric”, Metropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick said this week. After again spraying the liquid in a victim’s face, the moped was stolen and both attackers fled. “My family’s scared. They were asking me to leave that job, but I love that job”. At least two of those attacked were drivers for food delivery services Deliveroo and UberEATS.

At 10:49pm two men approached a man on a moped on Highbury Corner and threw a corrosive substance in his face.

People who attack using acid may soon face tougher punishments, including life imprisonment, Britain’s Interior Minister Amber Rudd said Sunday after a spate of incidents in London in recent months.

A witness said he heard a victim, believed to be a delivery rider, “screaming in pain”, while one victim suffered injuries described as “life-changing”.

The attacks followed a sharp uptick in the use of acid in violent attacks, with gangs reputedly using corrosive liquid as an alternative to carrying blades following a police crackdown on knife crime. He was taken to an east London hospital.

They succeeded in stealing only two scooters during the spree, police said.

“We are working with the police to see what more we could do”. In one assault, a 25-year-old man is accused of throwing acid at an aspiring model and her cousin as they sat in their vehicle.

The victim was fatally wounded during a clash in which shots were also fired in King William Walk, Greenwich, the Metropolitan Police said.