I think that it should be treated as some sort of torture offence or possibly become it's own category. Is it increasing or is the reporting of it suddenly become more focused, for some reason?
Think it comes down to the fact that it's easily available. Anybody can walk into a DIY shop and buy the materials or get them off the internet. Whereas there are sentences for carrying knives and guns, carrying ordinary household cleaning items is very hard to categorise as a crime unless there's clear intent to use it as a weapon.
In seriousness though they should try and enforce harsher sentences for these sorts of crimes, ****ing nasty thing to do.
I think they're looking at changing things since this happened. Making carrying acid a similar offense to carrying a knife etc. The issue is a knife and gun can kill someone easy. Acid you're not attempting to kill someone (although you could, in reality you're trying to ruin them instead). That'll bring issues such as 'can an attack be classified like a gun or knife attack?' as that would/could be attempted murder. Acid as it stands can only really be GBH - that's the loophole they need to try and figure out. Won't be easy.
Agreed that it won't be easy, needs something to be done though and you can't exactly ban carrying all forms as it's hard to prove intent etc. I'd just suggest longer sentences for it but our justice system is a joke anyway.
I agree 100%, it's finding the right charge to go with it though. It needs to be somewhere in the middle of GBH and Attempted Murder/Manslaughter, but it doesn't quite fit.
Yeah I was thinking along those lines too. Sounds kinda stupid but it's almost like there needs to a be a new charge/law to deal with this.
****ing scum! This should be treated the same as if you'd stabbed somebody. I'd suggest min 10 yrs inside. 5 just for being caught carrying it.
It don't list what those acid attacks were related to. What if it was a lone woman who carried a cannister to defend herself from a would be attacker. Seems fair game in those circumstances.
Trouble with this is that things like Caustic soda and Sulphuric acid etc are readily available from any DIY shop and 99.9% of people having it in their possession, will have it for its intended purpose, as a cleaning product. Maybe the law needs to be defined around the preparation of the substances ? (As in, is it in it's original packaging to be used for it's intended use, or has it been decanted into a spray bottle). It's very difficult to prosecute somebody simply for possession. It's a bit like saltpeter and other fertilisers, commonly used innocently by gardeners, but also a key ingredient in bomb making.
Agree, to an extent. And yes, if it's not in the original packaging you'd better have a damn good reason why not. And if you have genuinely just bought drain cleaner, etc, and are caught carrying it, again you'd better have the proof or very recent purchase with you. Preferably still in the shop's own bag. It can be a similar situation with knives. People need to buy new knives from time to time. But you have few excuses for carrying one around with you unless you can prove that you just bought it and are carrying it home.
