A 3-year-old boy in Great Britain is recovering from an acid attack that took place while he was shopping Saturday with his mother, and the boy’s father is one of five people in custody in connection with the assault.
Officials with the West Mercia police said the boy was sitting in a shopping cart in a Worcester Home Bargains store when an unidentified acid or corrosive substance was thrown on him. He suffered serious burns to his face and arm.
He was treated at a hospital and released, but the long-term implications of his injuries are not yet known, police officials said.
“This has been a shocking incident which we know has caused a great deal of concern in our community,” West Mercia Chief Superintendent Mark Travis said in a statement. “I can reassure people that Worcester remains a safe place to live and work and that such crimes remain thankfully extremely rare in our area.”
“Our thoughts are with the little boy and his family at this time and we are absolutely committed to getting to the bottom of this incident.”
Five men have been arrested and charged in the case. No names have been released, but the Daily Mail reported that a 39-year-old Wolverhampton man arrested shortly after the attack is the boy's father.
West Mercia police officials described the other suspects as a 41-year-old man from Wolverhampton and three London men ages 26, 25 and 22.
All five men are being held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. They remained in custody Tuesday morning.
Investigators on Sunday released surveillance images of three men wanted for questioning in the case, and the three suspects from London were arrested overnight Sunday. The fifth man was arrested Monday.
Credit: West Mercia Police
Credit: West Mercia Police
The motive for the attack was not known, but the Daily Mail reported that the boy's mother had taken her three children and left their Wolverhampton home because of trouble with the father. She and the children were living in a safe house in Worcester.
The mother may have been the target of the attack, the newspaper reported. Since the attack, the woman and her children have been placed in a police safe house.
Travis praised his officers, some of whom worked around the clock since Saturday’s attack.
"There is still work to do, and we are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances of the incident," Travis said. "We are still appealing for anyone with information to come forward and help us with our inquiries."
Detective Inspector Jim Bayliss said Tuesday that the incident seems to be an isolated one and that investigators believe there is no risk to the public at large.
British leaders described the attack as "horrific," according to the BBC.
“Anyone conducting such an attack on a small child is just appalling,” Robin Walker, the member of Parliament for Worcester, said.
Worcester City Council member Marc Bayliss called the attack “absolutely pure evil.”
"Worcester is not that sort of place," Bayliss told the BBC. "We are a quintessential small English city."
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