Corrosive substance/acid attacks

Request Number: FOI/16034

Category: Incident and Crime Statistics - Victim

Subject: Corrosive substance/acid attacks

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 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 attack against the person  as per the Home Office/NPCC definition here: 
"All notifiable violence against the person and robbery, involving the throwing, spraying or pouring of acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of another with the intention to disfigure, torture, kill or otherwise incapacitate for criminal purposes."

Question 2
For each calendar year, the gender of victim(s) of attacks as specified in question one - i.e. how many of the victims were male, female or otherwise specified.

Please note: 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 - 31st August 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. 

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.

Answers 1 and 2
 

Question 3
For each calendar year, the gender of attacker(s)/suspect(s) (where known) in attacks as specified in question one.

Answer 3
Please note that although there are 34 incidents relating to this request, some of them were duplicate recording (i.e. where there was more than one victim, a separate line of data was created for the same serial even though there was only one suspect).  We can further confirm that within the requested timeframe there were 22 incidents.

2019
In the calendar year 2019, there were three reported incidents.
No attackers/ suspects were identified in any of these and therefore the gender is unknown.

2020
In the calendar year 2020, there were no reported incidents of this type of attack.

2021
In the calendar year 2021, there were two reported incidents. In both cases the suspects were male.
One suspect per incident gives a total of 2 male suspects in this calendar year.

2022
In the calendar year 2022, there were two reported incidents.
In both incidents the suspect was male.
One suspect per incident gives a total of 2 male suspects in this calendar year.

2023
In the calendar year 2023, there were eight reported incidents.
In two of these incidents, no suspect(s) were identified.
In another incident there were two suspects. One female and one male. 
In a further four incidents the suspect was a male.
In another incident the suspect was a female.
This gives a total of 2 females and 5 males identified as suspects in this calendar year.

2024
In the calendar year 2024, there were seven reported incidents.
In two of these incidents, no suspect(s) were identified.
In one incident four male suspects were identified.
In another incident two male suspects were identified.
In two other incidents the suspect was a male.
In two other incidents the suspect was a female.
This gives a total of 2 females and 8 males identified as suspects in this calendar year.

Question 4
For each calendar year, the ethnicity of victim(s) of attacks as specified in question one.

Answer 4

Question 5
For each calendar year, the ethnicity of attacker(s)/suspect(s) (where known) in attacks as specified in question one.

Answer 5
Please note that although there are 34 incidents relating to this request, some of them were duplicate recording (i.e. where there was more than one victim, a separate line of data was created for the same serial even though there was only one suspect).  We can further confirm that within the requested timeframe there were 22 incidents.

2019
In the calendar year 2019, there were three reported incidents.
No attackers/ suspects were identified in any of these and therefore the ethnicity is unknown.

2020
In the calendar year 2020, there were no reported incidents of this type of attack.

2021
In the calendar year 2021, there were two reported incidents. In both cases the suspects were white.
One suspect per incident given a total of 2 white suspects in this calendar year.

2022
In the calendar year 2022, there were two reported incidents.
In one case the suspect was mixed ethnicity. (No other information regarding ethnicity is held.)
In the other incident, the suspect was white.
This gives a total of 2 suspects, one suspect of mixed ethnicity and one white suspect, identified in this calendar year.

2023
In the calendar year 2023, there were eight reported incidents.
In two of these incidents, no suspect(s) were identified.
In another incident there were two suspects. Both were white.
All other incidents involve a single white suspect.
This gives a total of 7 white individuals identified as suspects in this calendar year.

2024
In the calendar year 20234, there were seven reported incidents.
In two of these incidents, no suspect(s) were identified.
In one incident four white suspects were identified.
In another incident two white suspects were identified.
All other incidents involve a single white suspect.
This gives a total of 10 white individuals identified as suspects in this calendar year.

Question 6
The outcome of offences specified in question one - i.e. the number of arrests and convictions.

Answer 6
 

If you require further details surrounding conviction information, we recommend that you contact the Department of Justice, which is the public authority responsible for conviction information.

Please note that data for the above questions 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.