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Hospitals urged to share acid attack numbers with police

Police at the scene of an acid attack in east London: Twitter/@sarah_cobbold
Police at the scene of an acid attack in east London: Twitter/@sarah_cobbold

Hospitals are being urged to share data on acid attacks in London with police amid fears many cases are going unreported.

Police chiefs are holding talks with at least one major trauma centre in the capital to discuss how information can be shared on the number of corrosive liquid incidents.

Detective Chief Superintendent Sue Williams, the head of Tower Hamlets policing, said: “Unlike knife attacks there is no requirement for hospitals to share information on acid attacks.

“We want to compare the information we have with hospitals to understand if we are capturing all incidents.”

The borough recorded the fourth highest number of acid victims last year, with 41 cases, up from 35 in 2016, an 11 per cent rise. Across London there was a 17 per cent rise.

Newham recorded the highest, with 81 victims, followed by Barking & Dagenham and Hackney. The four east London boroughs accounted for half the total of all acid attacks in London.

Victim: Resham Khan was attacked in Beckton, east London in June (Gofundme)
Victim: Resham Khan was attacked in Beckton, east London in June (Gofundme)

However, detectives in Tower Hamlets said few of those attacked were seriously hurt and the majority of cases involved assaults or robberies.

Only four of those injured were seriously injured and left needing surgery, while the rest suffered relatively minor injuries from more diluted noxious substances. Most of the attacks in Tower Hamlets involved assaults, though a few were gang related.

Many are believed to have taken place because of disputes between people who were known to each other.

Around six were robberies, mostly carjackings.

Arthur Collins was convicted of an acid attack at an east London nightclub
Arthur Collins was convicted of an acid attack at an east London nightclub

Just three victims of acid attacks across the whole of London last year were classified as hate crimes.

This included 21-year-old aspiring model Resham Khan and her cousin Jameel Muhktar, 37, who were squirted with acid through their car window in Newham on June 21.

DCS Williams said: “Our Muslim community believe that this is being put across as a hate crime against them. We cannot say this will never happen but it is not happening so far in our borough.”

She added: “We would not say that it is based in a certain community. The suspects we are finding are black, white and Asian.”

Detective Chief Inspector Mike Hamer said: “We are seeing the same profile for people using knives and people who are using noxious fluids.”