A burn surgeon based in London is warning that acid attacks have reached “epidemic” levels in the U.K.
“We are now at levels that one of my colleagues described as epidemic,” Dr. Martin Niall told National Public Radio (NPR) earlier this week. “Everyone, ourselves included, has been shocked by this emerging threat to public health.”
As previously reported by The Daily Wire, London has been particularly plagued with such barbaric attacks, with over 1,800 reports of the crime since 2010. Moreover, as noted by NPR, “London’s Metropolitan Police have recorded more than 100 attacks in the first four months of this year, many in East London.”
And the rate of such attacks is picking up pace: “Last year it was used in 454 crimes, compared to 261 in 2015, according to Met Police figures,” reported the BBC in March.
The attacks have become so frequent that “British retailers are now talking about licensing the purchase of sulfuric acid,” notes NPR, though some argue that such a measure will do little to curb the violence since criminals will simply find another readily available weapon.
Currently, the sentences for such life-changing attacks are relatively light. One victim of such a barbaric attack, Samir Hussain, said the man who scarred him for life should have been sentenced to life in prison, not the 16 years he received.
“I got a life sentence,” said Hussain. “So should he.”
Last month, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he’d push for harsher punishments for such attacks.
“Acid attacks are callous and horrific, and my thoughts are with all those affected,” said Khan. “The emotional impacts of disfiguring and lifelong scarring are truly devastating for innocent victims.”
London witnessed a particularly barbaric and highly-publicized attack in June, when two cousins, Jameel and Resham Khan, were splashed with acid while celebrating Resham’s 21st birthday. The cousins were stopped at a traffic light when the attack took place.
Unlike the global trend of acid attacks, where victims are largely female, the head of Acid Survivors Trust International, Jaf Shah, says men are twice as likely as women to be victims of such attacks in the U.K.
The victims are also curiously unwilling to press charges: “Since 2014 about 74% of investigations have been wound down due to problems with identifying perpetrators, or victims being unwilling to press charges,” reported the BBC.
Although NPR minimized the massive uptick in acid attacks by referencing a single attack in the U.K. “before Victorian times,” such crimes have clearly not been common since 1831. And the areas hardest hit by the attacks happen to be in places with high immigration rates, often celebrated for their “multiculturalism.”
For example, Newham, which has been praised as one of “the most multicultural places in the UK,” has witnessed the highest number of acid attacks in the country, 398, from 2011-2016.
View the complete list of attacks by borough via Metro:
1 – Newham – 398
2 – Barking & Dagenham – 134
3 – Tower Hamlets – 84
4 – Havering – 81
5 – Redbridge – 64
6 – Hackney – 45
7 – Barnet – 44
8 – Croydon – 42
9 – Ealing – 40
10 – Hillingdon – 36
11 – Islington – 34
12 – Hounslow – 31
13 – Hammersmith & Fulham – 30
14 – Brent – 30
15 – Waltham Forest – 29
16 – Greenwich 28
17 – Harrow – 27
18 – Lewisham – 27
19 – Sutton – 27
20 – Richmond-upon-Thames – 25
21 – Enfield – 26
22 – Southwark – 24
23 – Westminster – 24
24 – Camden – 24
25 – Bromley – 19
26 – Merton – 19
27 – Haringey – 18
28 – Bexley – 17
29 – Wandwsowth – 17
30 – Kingston upon Thames – 16
31 – Lambeth – 15
32 – Kensington & Chelsea – 15