FOI 20118-25 - Acid Attacks
Request:
For each calendar year from 2019, including 2025 to date:
1) The number of offences that were categorised as an acid attack or corrosive fluid attack against the person as per the Home Office/NPCC definition here:
"All notifiable violence against the person and robbery, involving the throwing, spraying or pouring of acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of another with the intention to disfigure, torture, kill or otherwise incapacitate for criminal purposes."
2) For each calendar year, the gender of victim(s) of attacks as specified in question one - ie how many of the victims were male, female or otherwise specified.
3) For each calendar year, the gender of attacker(s)/suspect(s) (where known) in attacks as specified in question one.
4) For each calendar year, the ethnicity of victim(s) of attacks as specified in question one.
5) For each calendar year, the ethnicity of attacker(s)/suspect(s) (where known) in attacks as specified in question one.
6) The outcome of offences specified in question one - ie the number of arrests and convictions.
Response:
Search of occurrences within the Annual Data Returns to the Home Office from January 2019 to 17 October 2025. This data only includes occurrences where the substance has been forensically confirmed.
There may be more than one victim or suspect per occurrence. Equally, it is possible that no suspect has been identified for a particular occurrence.
Question 1:
2019 – 11
2020 – 6
2021 – 14
2022 – 19
2023 – 14
2024 – 15
2025 – 2
Question 2: Victim Gender
|
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Female |
3 |
4 |
4 |
8 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
|
Male |
8 |
2 |
9 |
10 |
9 |
12 |
1 |
|
[Blank] |
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
Question 3: Suspect Gender
|
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Female |
2 |
|
3 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
|
Male |
10 |
5 |
8 |
14 |
8 |
3 |
|
|
[Blank] |
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
Question 4: Self-defined Victim Ethnicity
|
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
B1. Black Caribbean |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
B2. Black African |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
M9. Any Other Mixed Background |
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
NS. Not Stated |
1 |
|
5 |
|
3 |
2 |
|
|
W1. White British |
2 |
3 |
7 |
15 |
8 |
9 |
1 |
|
W9. Any Other White Background |
|
|
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
|
|
[Blank] |
8 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
Question 5: Self-defined Suspect Ethnicity
|
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
A9. Any Other Asian Background |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
B1. Black Caribbean |
2 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
B2. Black African |
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
B9. Any Other Black Background |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
M1. White and Black Caribbean |
2 |
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
NS. Not Stated |
|
|
2 |
3 |
|
1 |
|
|
W1. White British |
1 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
1 |
|
W2. White Irish |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
W9. Any Other White Background |
|
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
[Blank] |
7 |
3 |
1 |
11 |
3 |
1 |
|
Question 6:
|
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1: Charged |
2 |
|
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
1: Summonsed/postal requisition |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
1A: Alternate offence charged |
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
1A: Alternate offence summonsed/postal requisition |
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
8: Community resolution |
1 |
|
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
12: Named suspect identified but is dead or too ill (physical or mental health) to prosecute |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
14: Victim declines/unable to support action to identify offender |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
3 |
|
|
15: CPS - named suspect, victim supports but evidential difficulties |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
15: Police - named suspect, victim supports but evidential difficulties |
|
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
16: Victim declines/withdraws support - named suspect identified |
3 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
3 |
5 |
|
|
18: Investigation complete no suspect identified |
2 |
|
2 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
|
20: Other body/agency has investigation primacy |
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
Northamptonshire Police do not hold convictions information. This information is held by His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).
The numerical data presented in this response is an unaudited snapshot of unpublished data sourced from "live" systems and is subject to the interpretation of the original request by the individual extracting the data.
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