Muslim Father Doused Three-Year-Old with ACID Son in ‘Deliberate Attack’ to Punish Wife Who Left Violent Marriage

Acid attacks – now a staple of British life, thanks to the hijrah.

UK: Acid Thrown on Three-Year-Old Boy in ‘Deliberate Attack’

Revealed: Afghan mother of acid attack boy, 3, ‘was tracked down by her violent asylum seeker husband after she appeared in newspaper without her veil’ as police continue to quiz him

• Revealed: Afghan mother of acid attack boy, 3, ‘was tracked down by her violent asylum seeker husband after she appeared in newspaper without her veil’ as police continue to quiz him
• The 39-year-old Afghan is being questioned after his son suffered serious burns
• The couple initially settled in Wolverhampton after fleeing war-torn Afghanistan
• Last year she left her taxi driver husband and moved to a house in Worcester
• It is now thought the target of the attack might have been the boy’s mother

By Martin Robinson Chief Reporter and Joe Middleton For Mailonline and Emine Simnaz and Jim Norton for the Daily Mail, 24 July 2018

The father of the three-year-old boy doused in acid while shopping with his mother has been arrested and is being questioned over the attack.

The 39-year-old suspect, an Afghan asylum seeker who has not been named, was the first suspect detectives held after the boy was targeted while sitting in a pushchair during a shopping trip to Home Bargains with his mother.

Three other younger men are also being grilled in connection with Saturday afternoon’s horrific attack in Worcester after they were arrested 130 miles away in Walthamstow.

They are reportedly eastern Europeans from the Romani community and accomplished bare-knuckle fighters, their east London neighbours said.

West Mercia Police believe the child was deliberately targeted in Home Bargains on Shrub Hill Retail Park at Tallow Hill. They have released images of three men (pictured) they would like to speak to

Today a fifth man, 41, from Wolverhampton, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

It is now thought the target might have been the boy’s mother.

The couple had initially settled in Wolverhampton after fleeing war-torn Afghanistan 11 years ago.

Last year she left her husband, a taxi driver, and moved to a house in Worcester with their three children, now aged ten, eight and three, to start a new life.

A neighbour recalled shouting matches between the couple, while another said when the woman left her husband broke down in tears claiming she would not let him see their children.

It is believed the thugs who carried out the acid attack on the boy had been monitoring the family after tracking them down to their new semi-detached home.

Detectives have been questioning residents about sightings of suspicious people and vehicles in the area.

When the pair were in a relationship she would wear a full veil but in recent years had removed it and moved to an address in Worcester 30 miles away with the children.

It is believed the estranged father discovered the whereabouts of his wife when a photo appeared in a local newspaper showing one of the children at a local event.

It is alleged that the gang bungled the attack and the three-year-old got splashed with the noxious substance accidentally in the process.

Police have now arrested four men – but none of them in Worcester. Three were in Walthamstow, London, last night and another in Wolverhampton

A West Mercia Police source confirmed to MailOnline that the older detainee is the victim’s father from Wolverhampton.

She said today: ‘He is still in custody. No charges as yet have been brought. This is an ongoing investigation.’

The man, who is understood to have split up from his partner and mother of his toddler son, is being held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

The mother had been hiding in a safe-house after a fractious break up.

Following the attack she and her son, who was treated in hospital for acid burns to his hands and face, were moved into a police safe house amid fears they could be attacked again.

Mark Travis, Chief Superintendent of West Mercia Police, hinted that a community dispute may have led to the vile attack

She had been living with the toddler and her two other children in a secluded residential street in Worcester after fleeing the family home in Wolverhampton because of ‘difficulties within her relationship,’ a new neighbour said.

Her child suffered serious burns when a bright pink acid was thrown over him as he sat in his pushchair in the city’s Home Bargains store on Saturday while his mother shopped.

Four men have been arrested in connection with the attack – and she is now in a safe house with her son under police protection amid fears they could be attacked again.

One neighbour said there had been ‘bad blood’ caused by a family dispute and said the attack may have been launched over the end of a relationship with the three-year-old’s mother, who could have been the true target.

A source close to the investigation revealed the mother, who has not been named, had fled to Worcester from Wolverhampton after ‘difficulties within her family’.

A 39-year-old was later arrested in the city.

The source said: ‘She had moved to Worcester from elsewhere but hasn’t been here long. She had moved because of difficulties within her family.

‘Nobody knows her really well and she didn’t have any connection with Worcester. That’s why she was moved here, because she was fleeing her previous situation.

‘Somehow the parties she was in a dispute with found out where she had moved to and that’s how this horrendous incident has happened.

‘The acid attack was targeted at her. The child just happened to get in the way.’

Chief Superintendent Mark Travis, who is leading the investigation, says he is keeping an ‘open mind’ about the motive and target of the attack.

But hinting about a row he said: ‘This is not the way to resolve issues and disputes in communities’.

Chief Superintendent Mark Travis said: ‘At this time we are treating this as a deliberate attack on a three-year-old boy.’ Pictured: The men wish to speak to