Acid Attack or Corrosive Fluid Offences

Request Number: FOI/14928

Category: Incident and Crime Statistics - Crime Statistics

Subject: Acid Attack or Corrosive Fluid Offences

Request and Answer:
Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does hold some information to which your request relates and this is being provided to you.
We do not however hold information in relation to Questions numbers 3, 6, 9 or 12 below. We further consider some of the information you seek is exempt by virtue of section 40 of FOIA and we have detailed our rationale as to why this exemption applies below. We have also provided you with links to guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office which we have followed in responding to your request. 

Question 1
For each calendar year from 2019, including 2025 to date

The number of offences that were categorised as an acid attack or corrosive fluid offence, broken down by month.

Answer 1
PSNI are unable to identify threats to use acid/corrosive fluids.  We can only provide information on offence where the weapons used field includes ‘Acid/Other Corrosive Substance or Noxious Substance/acid.  We have therefore only provided summary tables for offences that meet that description. 

The following tables provided in this response are based on all recorded offences where either the Weapons Used field indicates Acid/Other Corrosive Substance or the Weapons Used Subtype field indicates Noxious Substance/acid, during the period 1st January 2019 - 30th April 2025. 

Weapons data is held at the occurrence level. A single occurrence can involve multiple recorded offences.  Therefore a weapon (e.g. acid/other corrosive substance) may not have been used in the execution of all of the offences included in these tables. 

Please note: This information is based on data extracted from a live crime recording system and may be subject to change. It is dependent on the information having been input into the system in such a way as to identify those records that are relevant.

Question 2
The number of offences mentioned in question 1 that were recorded as Violent Offences within the category ‘Violence Against the Person’.

Answer 2
PSNI are unable to identify threats to use acid/corrosive fluids.  We can only provide information on offence where the weapons used field includes ‘Acid/Other Corrosive Substance or Noxious Substance/acid.  We have therefore only provided summary tables for offences that meet that description. 

The following tables provided in this response are based on all recorded offences where either the Weapons Used field indicates Acid/Other Corrosive Substance or the Weapons Used Subtype field indicates Noxious Substance/acid, during the period 1st January 2019 - 30th April 2025. 

Weapons data is held at the occurrence level. A single occurrence can involve multiple recorded offences.  Therefore a weapon (e.g. acid/other corrosive substance) may not have been used in the execution of all of the offences included in these tables. 

Please note: This information is based on data extracted from a live crime recording system and may be subject to change. It is dependent on the information having been input into the system in such a way as to identify those records that are relevant.

Of these offences, the following were Violence Against the Person offences:

2019:  4

2020:  0

2021:  2

2022:  2

2023:  12

2024:  12

Jan – Apr 2025:  0

Question 3
The number of threats of acid attacks/corrosive fluid attacks against the person, broken down by month.

Answer 3
Unfortunately PSNI can advise that we are unable to answer this question because we are unable to identify this requested information from our datasets as we do not hold the raw data.

Please note that even if we did hold this data, it is likely that this Question would be over cost to answer.

Question 4
The ethnicity, age and gender of victims of the offences mentioned in question 1, broken down by calendar year.

Question 5
The ethnicity, age and gender of victims of the offences mentioned in question 2, broken down by calendar year.

Answers 4 and 5
Please note: by providing a breakdown for only those offences which were violence against the person, this increases the risk that an individual can be identified in the data – each cell is more specific than in the tables for all offences where the weapons fields indicated the use of an acid/corrosive substance.

The following tables are based on all recorded violence against the person offences where either the Weapons Used field indicates Acid/Other Corrosive Substance or the Weapons Used Subtype field indicates Noxious Substance/acid, during the period 1st January 2019 - 30th April 2025. 

Weapons data is held at the occurrence level. A single occurrence can involve multiple recorded offences.  Therefore a weapon (e.g. acid/other corrosive substance) may not have been used in the execution of all of the offences included in these tables. 

Please note: This information is based on data extracted from a live crime recording system and may be subject to change. It is dependent on the information having been input into the system in such a way as to identify those records that are relevant.

Question 6
The ethnicity, age and gender of victims of the offences mentioned in question 3, broken down by calendar year.

Answer 6
Please see Answer to Question 3.

Question 7
The ethnicity, age and gender of suspects of the offences mentioned in question 1, broken down by calendar year.

Question 8
The ethnicity, age and gender of suspects of the offences mentioned in question 2, broken down by calendar year.

Answers 7 and 8
PSNI are unable to identify threats to use acid/corrosive fluids.  We can only provide information on offence where the weapons used field includes ‘Acid/Other Corrosive Substance or Noxious Substance/acid.  We have therefore only provided summary tables for offences that meet that description. 

The following tables provided in this response are based on all recorded offences where either the Weapons Used field indicates Acid/Other Corrosive Substance or the Weapons Used Subtype field indicates Noxious Substance/acid, during the period 1st January 2019 - 30th April 2025. 

​​​​​​​Weapons data is held at the occurrence level. A single occurrence can involve multiple recorded offences.  Therefore a weapon (e.g. acid/other corrosive substance) may not have been used in the execution of all of the offences included in these tables. 

Please note: This information is based on data extracted from a live crime recording system and may be subject to change. It is dependent on the information having been input into the system in such a way as to identify those records that are relevant.

Question 9
The ethnicity, age and gender of suspects of the offences mentioned in question 3, broken down by calendar year.

Answer 9
Please see Answer to Question 3.

Question 10
Outcomes of the offences mentioned in 1, broken down by calendar year.

Question 11
Outcomes of the offences mentioned in 2, broken down by calendar year.

Answers 10 and 11
PSNI are unable to identify threats to use acid/corrosive fluids.  We can only provide information on offence where the weapons used field includes ‘Acid/Other Corrosive Substance or Noxious Substance/acid.  We have therefore only provided summary tables for offences that meet that description. 

The following tables provided in this response are based on all recorded offences where either the Weapons Used field indicates Acid/Other Corrosive Substance or the Weapons Used Subtype field indicates Noxious Substance/acid, during the period 1st January 2019 - 30th April 2025. 

Weapons data is held at the occurrence level. A single occurrence can involve multiple recorded offences.  Therefore a weapon (e.g. acid/other corrosive substance) may not have been used in the execution of all of the offences included in these tables. 

Please note: This information is based on data extracted from a live crime recording system and may be subject to change. It is dependent on the information having been input into the system in such a way as to identify those records that are relevant.

Please note that the currently assigned outcome may be updated as investigations are completed or new information comes to light.

Question 12
Outcomes of the offences mentioned in 3, broken down by calendar year.

Answer 12
Please see Answer to Question 3.

Please note that Data for Questions 1 ,2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11 has been amalgamated due to low level. There is a significant risk that its detail breakdown could potentially lead to identification of individuals involved in these occurrences and breach of Data Protection regulations therefore s. 40(2) of FOI Act applies as below.

Partial exemption
Section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Police Service of Northern Ireland, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:
(a) states that fact,
(b) specifies the exemption in question and
(c) states (if not otherwise apparent) why the exemption applies.
The exemption/s, as well as the factors the Department considered when deciding where the public interest lies, are listed below:

Section 40(2) (a) (b) by virtue of Section 40(3) (A) (a) – Personal Information.

Section 40 (2) of the FOIA is an absolute exemption which means there is no requirement on PSNI to consider whether there is a public interest in disclosure. It is an interface exemption and we must consider whether release of the information would breach the General Data Protection Regulations (‘GDPR’) or the Data Protection Act 2018 (‘DPA’) Third party personal information constitutes ‘personal data’ under the GDPR (Article 4) and DPA (Part 1 s.3).

Under the Freedom of Information Act, PSNI must consider if information can be released into the public domain. We have therefore considered whether the disclosure of this personal data is subject to the exemption at Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by virtue of s40 (3)(A)(a). As information is ‘personal data’, PSNI considered whether disclosure would contravene any of the six data protection principles contained within the GDPR or DPA.

The six data protection principles are good information handling standards which PSNI must comply with in relation to how it handles personal information, including deciding whether to disclose it or not.  In particular, the first principle requires personal data to be processed in a lawful and fair manner. In considering whether it is ‘fair’ to any individual to release information about them, PSNI considered the likely expectations of those individuals and the nature of the information involved and the material you have requested. Individuals must have confidence that their information is treated sensitively and appropriately by PSNI. The PSNI has a duty to protect the personal data which includes members of the public who are contracted by the PSNI and a release of their names into the public domain could pose a threat to their personal security. Staff members would not have any reasonable expectation that PSNI would disclose such information of this nature about them. We consider it would be extremely unfair to those individuals and therefore a breach of the first principle of data protection legislation. This information is therefore exempt under section 40 (2) of the FOIA as it contravenes data protection legislation to release it.

The release of information under the Freedom of Information Act is considered a release into the public domain and not just to the individual requesting the information. Once information is disclosed by FOI there is no control or limits as to who or how information is shared with other individuals, therefore a release under FOI is considered a release to the world in general.

The full text of exemptions can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk and further guidance on how they operate can be located on the Information Commissioners Office website www.ico.org.uk.