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Restrictions must be put on sale of corrosives, says acid attack survivor

Patricia Lefranc wants people buying acid to have to show ID and have their purchase logged.

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Acid attack victim Patricia Lefranc

A Belgian acid attack survivor is trying to force a change in European law on the sale of corrosive liquids by launching a video campaign.

Patricia Lefranc, who has scarring on her face and upper body after falling victim to an acid attack in 2009, wants sales of corrosives to be logged so perpetrators can be traced more easily.

Launching the campaign on Wednesday, Ms Lefranc said it is “absolutely necessary” to tighten laws around the sale of corrosives in response to the rising number of acid attacks in London.

She added: “There would be a rebellion if we began to sell automatic weapons in supermarkets. We should not under-estimate just how dangerous acid can be when used as a weapon.”

After her attack she was “angry at the doctors that they had kept her alive” and thought she had become a “monster”, she said.

“What I couldn’t do easily was to look in the mirror, I did not believe it was me,” she added.

Ms Lefranc worked with the Acid Survivors Trust International (Asti) and London-based production company The Operators Creative on her campaign, which filmed an artist painting her portrait.

The campaign aims to draw attention to the impact of acid attacks.

She believes European law must “ensure acid cannot be sold everywhere” and buyers should have to show ID and have purchases of corrosive liquids logged in order to help the police track perpetrators more easily.

She added: “How many victims will still have to be attacked before it is serious enough to ratify a law to regulate the sale of acid?”

An Asti study estimates each acid attack in the UK costs the taxpayer £63,000 and the predicted overall cost between 2015 and 2020 is likely to be around £345 million.

There were more than 900 attacks in the UK in 2017, they add.

The Home Office announced earlier this month that stop and search was to be used more widely in an effort to prevent acid attacks.

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