Witnesses describe ‘horrific’ attack with corrosive substance in south London

Witnesses have described a “horrific” scene after a woman and her two young daughters were attacked with a corrosive substance in south London.

Emergency services were called to Lessar Avenue in Clapham at about 7.25pm. The victims were taken to hospital along with three responding police officers and two others who tried to help on Wednesday evening.

One couple who ran into the street after hearing a cry for help and the sound of a car crashing described what they saw to the BBC.

“We came outside and saw this guy and he took a girl out of the car and he slammed her to the ground twice,” a man who wished to remain anonymous said. “I chased him halfway down the road, but I was in slippers so didn’t get very far. As I came back, that’s when I saw the woman who had been attacked …

“So I ran inside to get some water and just sprayed her down with water. It was quite horrific.”

One woman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The mum was saying: ‘I can’t see, I can’t see’, and I told her that’s because you’ve got acid thrown in your face, so I shouted to my partner to get a bottle of water.”

A man was seen fleeing the area and police used helicopters in the search. An abandoned white hatchback with its doors open was visible behind the police cordon on Wednesday evening.

A local Labour councillor, Alison Inglis-Jones, said emergency services had arrived on the scene quickly. She told Today that the ward was “one of the safest in Lambeth, so we are horrified at what has happened”.

Inglis-Jones said the perpetrator had not yet been arrested and urged anyone with information to call 999.

A witness told Sky News: “There was a man in a white car with two children. It looked like he tried to run over a woman. They had been fighting.

“One girl in the back had her hand on the window – you can see the mark on the car. He grabbed one of the two children and violently grabbed them and slammed them on the floor.

“The lady then shouted, ‘My eyes! My eyes! Call the police, my eyes!’ Then I saw him run off. It was all so traumatising.”

Det Supt Alexander Castle said: “A man was seen fleeing the scene. We are drawing on resources from across the Met to apprehend this individual and work is ongoing to determine what has led to this awful incident.”

Castle added: “While tests are ongoing to determine what the substance is, at this stage we believe it to be a corrosive substance.”

He said injuries to three police officers were believed to be minor.