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Acid attack victim hopes to leave Black Country to escape memories of horrific assault

A young woman left scarred by an acid attack wants to begin a fresh start away from the Black Country in a bid to escape memories of the horrific assault.

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Vikki Horsman spent five days in intensive care and required months of treatment, but still bears the scars of the attack which was planned by her ex-lover Mohammed Rafiq.

The 80-year-old, who was old enough to be her great-grandfather, paid Steven Holmes and Shannon Heaps to throw the sulphuric acid over her as she answered a front door in Tividale.

Yesterday, the three men were jailed for a combined total of 44 years for their roles in the attack, which took place in MacDonald Close on April 15 this year.

During the hearing, Mr Nigel Stelling, prosecuting, referred to a witness impact statement made by Miss Horsman, who was aged 19 at the time of the assault.

He said: "She says this has an ongoing effect on her.

"It has undermined her confidence, she is uneasy about being alone, regularly having to stay with relatives for comfort and support.

"She found the coming of the trial a very difficult experience, it heightened her anxiety.

"She speaks of wanted to make a fresh start away from the area so she doesn't feel she has to constantly look over her shoulder.

"She also hopes the passage of time will erase the memories of that day and all that she has suffered since."

Miss Horsman met Rafiq when she was just 14. They later began a sexual relationship and he pressured her to convert to Islam and even change her name to Aleena Rafiq.

From left to right: Mohammed Rafiq, Steven Holmes, and Shannon Heaps

But after she split from him, Rafiq grew increasingly unhappy and began taking measures in a bid to bring her under his control.

He broke into her bedroom and took pictures of condoms in her bedroom drawer and threatened to show them to a friend she was staying with in an attempt to blackmail her.

But when this did not work, Judge Nicholas Webb described how he turned to a 'more drastic course'.

Rafiq ordered the attack. He left acid outside the house in MacDonald Close and drove Holmes and Heaps close to the address to carry out the offence.

Rafiq drove on alone to the house to check Miss Horsman was inside. He played the part of a victim to police after suffering minor burns from the acid himself.

The house in Macdonald Close, Tividale

Sentencing Rafiq, of Cheshire Road in Smethwick, Mr Webb said: "She had decided she didn't want to continue her relationship with you and you became jealous and angry.

"You obtained the acid and left it at the front door of the house for Holmes to pick it up and throw."

He added: "Rafiq, you are dangerous, you have influenced a number of much younger persons - you must have a cruel personality to want to arrange such an attack."

Holmes, 25, of Allan Close in Smethwick, was described as 'callous and lacking in true remorse' by Mr Webb.

The judge accepted Heaps, 23, of Queens Avenue in Tividale, played a lesser role in the attack.

Mr Andrew Baker, defending Rafiq, said the planned attack was out of character for his client.

He added: "What possessed him apart from blind jealousy for this act of madness, no-one can begin to imagine."

Jas Mann, defending Heaps, reiterated his client was not the defendant who threw the acid over Miss Horsman.

Mr Mann said: "He (Rafiq) was a man who was able to influence relatively young people and use a Svengali like influence on others."

Miss Amy Jacobs, defending Holmes, said her client had spent most his adulthood in jail. She said he lacked parental support as a child.

Following the sentencing, Detective Constable Jason Moseley, of West Midlands Police, said: "This was a horrifying and complex case which centred around a controlling relationship.

"Rafiq's young ex-partner was seriously injured and left with devastating, lasting scars, which one can only presume was his intent given the nature of the planned attack.

"He recruited two people to carry out the attack on his behalf and then tried to claim that he was also a victim."

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