‘Pure evil’: Toddler injured in acid attack

A THREE-year-old boy has been seriously injured in a suspected acid attack in central England.

West Mercia Police have released images of three men after the toddler was injured in a suspected acid attack in discount store Home Bargains in Worcester yesterday afternoon.

Police said the boy was taken to hospital where he was treated for serious burns to his arm and face.

The long-term effect of the toddler’s injuries are not yet known.

Worcester City Council leader Marc Bayliss described the attack as “absolutely pure evil”. “Worcester is not that sort of place. We are a quintessential small English city. I have never heard of an acid attack in Worcester so this is absolutely not something we have any experience of,” Mr Bayliss said.

The incident occurred at around 2.15pm in Home Bargains on Shrub Hill Retail Park, Worcester, about three hours northwest of London.

Witnesses to the horror scene described seeing a woman crying and being comforted by police officers, as another claimed a “skinny white guy” fled the shop after the attack.

“The child has now been released from hospital. He is back home with his family,” Chief Superintendent Mark Travis, from West Mercia Police, said.

A 39-year-old man from Wolverhampton has been arrested in connection with the incident, which police believe was a “deliberate” attack.

The busy Shrub Hill Retail Park was filled with families and children as they enjoy the start of their summer holidays in the UK but parents shared their concerns after the horrific attack.

One couple with a newborn baby said: “How someone could do this is just heartless. As parents, we just couldn’t imagine if that was our own child. We have just been inside the store and we both said how we felt a little nervous and on edge. I hope the little boy is okay.”

Another local business woman Donna Bird said it is “sickening”.

“It’s sickening to think that someone would do this, let alone to a three-year-old defenceless child. Nowhere is safe anymore. To think that this happened when you’re going shopping or just going out about your normal day.”

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.