Children's drink bottles 'being used by acid attackers to squirt victims'

Acid attacks: East London was rocked by a series of horrific acid attacks in recent weeks, with five people targeted during a rampage last week
Twitter/@sarah_cobbold
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Acid attackers are reportedly using children's fruit-flavoured drink bottles to inflict maximum damage on their victims.

Many soft drink containers have nozzles which enable a powerful squirt of noxious substances with one squeeze.

Police in London have been told to check bottles of one particular brand of drink found on anyone during searches on the capital’s streets, The Sun reports.

Amid a recent spike in attacks, former Flying Squad chief Barry Phillips told the newspaper: “Who would ever think a [drink bottle] might be used to fire acid at someone?”

Culprits could face life in prison as part of the crackdown.

Another person was injured in an acid attack on Friday in Dagenham, making it the sixth assault with corrosive liquid in just 24 hours.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in