Spate of Acid Attacks in Local Area


Victims Treated in Specialist Eye Hospital Following Assault

SIX people have been sprayed in the face by acid in the past two weeks, in Fulham Road, Fulham Broadway and in Hammersmith.

The attacks were reported between May 20 and June 3, and one was being treated as a robbery, Scotland Yard said.

The spray was thought to be either ammonia or another caustic liquid. Two separate assaults in Fulham left men in their 20s needing treatment in a specialist eye hospital.

A spokesperson said descriptions of the suspects varied and police were looking for links between the attacks.

The first attack was in the early hours on Sunday May 20 in Fulham Broadway, when a man wearing a spotted jumper and a woman approached two men. The man in the jumper asked: "What have you got for me?"

Then he threw a liquid into his 26-year-old victim's face. The victim had to be taken to a specialist eye hospital.

Half an hour later, a 25-year-old man was walking nearby when two boys, thought to be about 12-years-old, asked the same question, and then sprayed him with an unknown substance. They made off with his mobile phone.

On Saturday May 26 a 31-year-old was walking near the scenes of the earlier attacks, when two black men asked him what time it was, before spraying him in the face with a liquid. The same night, a 24-year-old was attacked on Fulham Road by two men wielding a spray and demanding money. He also needed treatment in a specialist eye hospital.

On 3 June, a 19-year-old man was sprayed with a noxious substance during an altercation on the street in Hammersmith.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "In all cases the victims were assaulted. On one other occasion the incident is being treated as robbery. We are keeping an open mind as to whether they are linked."

June 11, 2007