'Year of hell' for unintended victim of Witham acid attack

Wayne Ingold was left with horrific burns after acid was thrown in his face in a case of mistaken identity

"It's been a year of hell. When I go to bed at night and take my t-shirt off, the scars will always be there in the mirror. The pain in my shoulder is still there. The skin graft sites are painful."

Wayne Ingold's life was turned upside down on 8 August 2014 when he opened the communal front door to the block of flats where he lived in Witham, Essex.

Unbeknown to him, on the other side of the door were two youths waiting to throw acid in his face.

A victim of mistaken identity, the 57-year-old was left with life-changing injuries and scars.

He said: "I'd been at a friend's the night before and got back about 10:35am. I went to check my mail box and saw a figure outside the front door.

"I opened it and the lad outside said "55", which was the number of the top floor flat. But another lad came round the round the corner with a bottle of what looked like fizzy drink.

"He started throwing it in my face and within seconds I realised it was acid.

"I put my right hand up to check my face, and that was burnt too. I ran inside thinking 'What do I do now?'.

"I looked in the mirror, my face was yellow and looked like melting candle wax. I dialled 999 and the police and ambulance turned up not long afterwards.

"The first policeman who saw me nearly fainted because of the state I was in."

Mr Ingold needed a series of operations and skin grafts to repair the damage to his body

Mr Ingold said the quick actions of paramedics who washed his face saved much of his skin "or it could have been 10 times worse".

He was taken to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, where doctors from a specialist burns unit performed skin grafts to repair the damage to his face and upper body.

"They had to put up a chemical attack tent in the hospital. I was on morphine and pain killers," he said.

"The surgeon told me the wound in my right shoulder was so deep they had to cut the flesh away and replace it with cow fat."

Surgeons inserted cow fat into Mr Ingold's shoulder, where there was a "deep wound"

The trial of two teenage boys charged over the attack heard Mr Ingold was in the "wrong place at the wrong time" when he opened the front door that day.

"At first I thought, 'what was it all about, why me?' But now I know it wasn't me they were targeting," Mr Ingold said.

Essex Police confirmed the intended victim of the acid attack had never been found.

Mr Ingold said: "If I came face to face with them, I'd ask them 'Why did you do it? How would you have felt, your family felt, if someone had done it to you?'

"Their arrogance and attitude amazes me. There's no respect. I could see them laughing and making faces at me in court.

"When I gave evidence, I had to have a screen up so I didn't have to look at their faces while I was talking about what happened."

Emergency services were called to the scene of the attack in Witham, Essex, in August 2014

The trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, which was just over a week long, also heard evidence from the accused - Aarron Isaac, 19, of Elverson Road, Lewisham, south London, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named due to his age.

Mr Ingold said he had counselling following the attack

The teenagers were convicted after three and a half hours of jury deliberations and will be sentenced at the same court on 6 November.

"Now I can move on with my life and put this whole sorry saga to bed", Mr Ingold said.

"I've got to go back to hospital in November to see a specialist. Broomfield has been fantastic. I always give credit where it's due.

"People say I sound a bit light-hearted when I keep saying everyone was fantastic. But being light-hearted is my coping mechanism."

Mr Ingold said he had received counselling earlier this year and was still trying his best to recover from the attack.

"It's horrific, but without the paramedics, I'd be a damn sight worse.

"The mental scars will take a lot longer to heal. But you've got to carry on and get on with life as best you can."