Stratford acid attack: businesses call for TOTAL acid ban after attack at shopping centre which left three people in hospital

Police at the scene of the attack
PA
Kate Proctor|Harriet Orrell25 September 2017
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Traders today joined leading politicians in calls for a total clampdown on the sale of acid after a terrifying attack in a crowded shopping mall left three victims in hospital.

It came after a homeless man told how he helped one of six people who were injured when a bottle filled with a noxious substance was sprayed during a fight in the Stratford Centre, near the Olympic Park, at 8pm on Saturday.

Witnesses reported bystanders screaming in pain, with one person shouting: “I can’t see, I can’t see.”

Detectives are said to be investigating whether the rampage is part of a “tit-for-tat” turf war between gangs following the shooting of Corey Junior Davis, 14, in Forest Gate earlier this month.

Paul Andrews, 57, today told how he helped one of the more seriously hurt victims after also being splashed with the substance sprayed from a Lucozade bottle by a masked youth.

Helper: rough sleeper Paul Andrews, who was hurt himself, took another victim into Burger King to rinse his face after the acid attack

Mr Andrews, a rough sleeper whose own face was blistering, said: “I saw that his skin was white and flaky so I grabbed him and took him into Burger King where I threw water into his eyes and rinsed his face.”

Burger King worker Akter Hossen, 28, said: “He helped the victim rinse the acid until the police came and there was water everywhere.”

Ministers have been accused of “dragging their feet” on acid sales after a dramatic spike in the violent incidents which saw 454 reported attacks last year, three times the number in 2014.

Almost 400 of London’s 1,500 incidents in the past five years took place in Newham. Local traders have called for more visible police patrols.

Labour wants the Government to license the sale of corrosive substances rather than rely on a voluntary agreement with shopkeepers which encourages shops in east London not to sell corrosive substances to under-18s.

But Louise Haigh, shadow minister for policing, said: “The Government appears content to stick to a series of completely unenforceable voluntary commitments that will leave the public at risk.

“It’s time ministers stopped dragging their feet. If they bring forward proposals to restrict the sale of substances like sulphuric acid they will have the support of Parliament and the public.”

Currently sulphuric acid is classed as a “reportable substance”, meaning retailers only have to report suspicious transactions to the police.

Ms Haigh wants it reclassified as a “regulated substance” that requires a licence and could only be sold by pharmacies. The Home Office said the 1972 Poisons Act is “under review” to see how controls on dangerous chemicals can be tightened “to limit criminal access”.

A 15-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm following the attack was today released on bail.

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