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TWO BROTHERS WHO threw acid in a woman’s face in the UK, blinding her in one eye, have been jailed for 15 years and 9 years respectively for the “barbaric” attack.
Billy Midmore, 22, and Geoffrey Midmore, 27, were sentenced at Southampton Crown Court yesterday for spraying their victim, Carla Whitlock, 37, in the face with drain cleaner outside a restaurant in Southampton last September.
“Carla Whitlock suffered severe burns after having acid thrown in her face by the brothers, causing her to suffer severe injuries and destroying the sight in one of her eyes,” Hampshire Police said in a statement last night.
Billy Midmore, of no fixed abode, was jailed for 15 years and Geoffrey Midmore, also of no fixed abode, was handed a nine-year sentence.
After the attack, Geoffrey Midmore sent a photograph of the drain cleaner to an acquaintance, with the words “This is one face melter”, Sky News reported.
Chief Inspector Debra Masson said the attack was “a premeditated assault carried out by two men of violence who regularly came to Hampshire to pursue a criminal enterprise, and make people’s lives a misery”.
“The evidence shown in court of their behaviour directly after the attack, coupled with their concerted efforts to evade capture, served to expose them as the dangerous criminals they are,” she said.
Acid attacks in Hampshire are thankfully very rare. The level of injury caused by such an attack is life-changing, and I know that Carla still faces many challenges, alongside the permanent loss of sight in one of her eyes, due to this barbaric act.
Although things will never be the same for Carla, we hope that the sentence handed to Geoffrey and Billy Midmore today goes some way to giving her closure and allows her to feel that justice has been delivered.
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It was burning. ‘She later used it a second time’. I put my hand in the fire. It burned. I took it out and ran it under a cold tap. I thought this was normal. I stick my hand in again. I s*^t you not. It started to burn again
@Dessie Curley: Given the product was a chemical skin peel it would be reasonable to expect some sensation.
Also, you know if you stick your hand in a fire you’ll be injured. It’s a reasonable expectation that of a expert you have paid recommends a product to you that it won’t cause extensive and lasting skin damage.
Every last one of these cosmetic products carry a warning on the packet to ‘apply a test patch’ or ‘discontinue use if skin irritation occurs’ not that isn’t just basic common sense…
With company out of business – who pays the €37K. Genuine question.
Retroactive claim from the liability insurance policy held by the business at the time of the incident.
They wouldn’t bother suing a wound down Ltd. company and joining the list of creditors.
But she didn’t have a facial. She opted for a chemical peel that works by burning off the top layers of your skin. BURNING OFF. Total rubbish. She didn’t deserve a penny.
The beauty therapist told her she had sensitive skin and then recommended the product. Clearly at fault. The amount awarded seems high to me though.
Saw a photo of her on another site. Poor woman looks destroyed :)
about 20% of white Irish women have rosacea. I could have an extra 35k now if only I’d the cop on!!! Was the Groupon facial!
Exactly – if she’d been diagnosed with contact dermatitis or some allergic response I’d say fair enough, but rosacea is a common condition of unknown cause.
@Tom the Bomb: A common condition which she didn’t have before she used the recommended product.
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