Police have launched a manhunt after two boys had a corrosive substance thrown over them at a London Tube station.
British Transport Police (BTP) has released images of three people who they want to speak to after the incident which took place at Elm Park Tube station on Saturday, February 24.
The force said the victims were attacked just after 8pm and were left needing hospital treatment. Their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening o life-changing.
It is the latest in a number of recently reported acid attacks, with four others taking place in the last month alone, including the horrific Clapham chemical attack which saw a mother and two children targeted by and Afghan asylum seeker.
CCTV images from the incident on Saturday show two men, one of whom is wearing a black puffer jacket, as well as a black face covering and black baseball cap. The other is seen wearing a black coat.
British Transport Police have released CCTV images of three people they want to speak to in relation to the incident
There have been at least five reported acid attacks in southern England alone in the space of a month
Also pictured is a woman wearing a cream jacket, blue jeans and converse trainers, while also holding a green coat.
Investigating officer Detective Inspector Marvin Bruno said: ‘Violence in any form will not be tolerated on the rail network and we would like to reassure the travelling public that our officers are working tirelessly to identify and apprehend those responsible.
‘We are really keen to speak to the people in the images, or anyone else who witnessed the incident, as we believe they have information which could help our investigation. If you know them or have any information that might help, please get in touch.’
Anyone who recognises the people pictured by British Transport Police, or has any other information, is asked to contact British Transport Police by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 803 of 24/02/24.
Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
It is the latest in a number of acid attacks in recent weeks, with four reported in in the south of England since the end of January alone.
The most high profile of these was an attack in Clapham which saw a mother and her two children doused in a corrosive substance.
Police have said the mother’s injuries are life-changing and she remains in hospital.
That attack caused police to launch a nationwide manhunt for the suspect, Afghan asylum seeker Abdul Ezedi, although he was later found dead in the River Thames weeks later.
This was followed by a spate of similar attacks, with three taking place in the space of just two days.
On February 10 a 52-year-old woman was left with burns on her back and head after having a corrosive substance thrown over her in a pub in Basingstoke.
Abdul Ezedi was wanted in connection with a chemical attack in Clapham. His body was later found in the River Thames
Police in forensics gear at the scene of a corrosive substance attack in Clapham on January 31
Police on the scene in Croydon on February 11 after a man seized a London bus and threatened the driver and passengers with a substance which was later found to be not harmful
The day after, a manhunt was launched after a man was attacked with a ‘noxious substance’ in St Laurence Graveyard in Ramsgate, Kent. The attacker fled the scene and the victim was rushed to hospital for treatment to burns at the back of his head.
And the same day as this police officers were involved in a three-hour stand-off with an alleged ‘acid atacker’ who seized a London bus and threatened the driver and passengers with an unknown substance in Croydon.
Police detained a 44-year-old man who was arrested for affray. It was later confirmed that the substance was found not to be harmful and no one was injured.
Experts have warned that ‘copycat’ attacks could be on the rise, and have called for a ‘further tightening’ around the regulations for corrosive substances.
Professor Aisha K. Gill, Professor of Criminology, Centre for Gender and Violence Research, at University of Bristol, referred to acid attacks as a ‘gendered form of violence’, one where the attempt is to maim and disfigure, but not necessarily to kill.
Figures from charity Acid Survivors Trust International (Asti) revealed how attacks in London rose by 45 percent last year and a staggering 69 percent across England and Wales.
There were 710 acid attacks recorded in 2022, compared with 421 in 2021. The Metropolitan Police recorded 107 attacks in 2022, up from 74 in 2021. Women were targeted in 339 cases and men in 317 and in the rest the gender of the victim was unknown.
The 710 figure is the highest number of recorded attacks in the world with the majority of victims being women.
Meanwhile, Office for National Statistics figures revealed police in England and Wales recorded 472 violent and robbery offences involving a corrosive substance in the year to March 2023.
In the previous 12 month period between April 2021 to March 2022, there were 525 figures. Data is published annually and dates back to March 2020.
Earlier this month, looked at what to do should you witness a chemical attack to help minimise the damage. The NHS says three main steps need to be taken immediately.
A victim of an acid, alkaline or chemical attack needs immediate first aid. Call 999 or ask someone else to call and request urgent help.
The chemical needs to be removed, including any contaminated clothing and the area affected needs to be rinsed using as much clean water as possible.
St John Ambulance Service also advises flooding the victim’s burns with water, and removing clothing to get the chemicals away from the skin.
Prof. Gill told earlier this month: ‘With these attacks on the rise, the criminal justice system must ensure that its response is informed by the perspectives of survivors who have lived experience of its current responses; further, it must be able to influence national police guidance and training and to scrutinise them to more clearly understand the underlying motivations of perpetrators.
‘However, protecting acid victims and working to prevent this form of gender-based violence is not merely an issue of legal, police policies and practice; acid attacks can only be eradicated by social change.’
So far, ministers have made changes to the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 making it harder for young people aged under 18 to buy corrosive substances.
The changes, introduced in 2022, also make it an offence to possess a corrosive substance in a public place.
Katie Piper, 40, was attacked with acid by her ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch and his accomplice Stefan Sylvestre in 2008, causing serious injuries and blindness in one eye
Milad Rouf, 25, from Cardiff, was jailed after throwing sulphuric acid over his ex-girlfriend when she answered her door in 2021
Lucy Hadley, head of policy at Women’s Aid, told earlier in February: ‘We know from our work with survivors that many don’t report the crimes against them for fear of not being believed.
‘These fears are further exacerbated by the fact that there is currently a chasm between the number of women reporting domestic abuse, sexual violence and other forms of violence against women and the number of perpetrators convicted.
‘It is concerning to see that the number of recorded acid attacks is rising. We know perpetrators of domestic abuse will use any and every means to abuse, control and threaten women – and the police and criminal justice agencies must be alert to the use of acid attacks as a form of physical violence.
‘We need consistent data collection on the sex of victim and perpetrator, and their relationship, so we can understand and tackle how it is impacting cases of domestic abuse.
‘All reports on violence against women and girls, both on and offline, must be taken seriously – with women effectively supported and perpetrators held accountable for these devastating crimes.’
Meanwhile, an earlier Asti study estimates each acid attack in the UK costs the taxpayer £63,000 and the predicted overall cost between 2015 and 2020 is likely to be around £345 million.
Among horrific cases in recent years include Dr Rym Alaoui who suffered life changing injuries when a former colleague and boyfriend threw acid in her face in a horrific, premeditated and planned attack on her doorstep in Brighton.
Belgian national Patricia Lefranc, victim and survivor of an acid attack in 2009
Lefranc was attacked with sulphuric acid by her former partner
Milad Rouf, 25, disguised himself as a large, black woman before throwing sulphuric acid over his ex-girlfriend when she answered her door in May 2021.
Dr Alaoui suffered life changing injuries to her face, neck and chest, Lewes Crown Court heard. She was unable to close her eyes or move her neck and has lost the sight in her right eye.
Rouf was jailed for 15 years the following October with judge Christine Laing QC telling Rouf she had no doubt he was a danger to women before sending him to prison.
Patricia Lefranc, who was attacked with sulphuric acid by her former partner in 2009, spent 12 weeks in a coma before undergoing more than 100 surgeries, including skin grafts.
Asti recently produced a book with the British fashion photographer Rankin featuring images of Lefranc to raise awareness of the crime.