Man gets 30 years for acid attack

A man who poured sulphuric acid over his married sister's lover in an attempted "honour killing" has been jailed for 30 years for conspiracy to murder.

Mohammed Vakas, 26, left Awais Akram horrifically disfigured following the attack last year in Leytonstone, east London.

Mr Akram was having an affair with Vakas's sister Sadia Khatoon after the couple met on Facebook. The Old Bailey heard how Mrs Khatoon's husband, Shakeel Abassi, decided that the family's reputation "could only be salvaged in one way".

Vakas attacked Mr Akram with two conspirators, Mohammed Adeel, 20, and Fabion Kuci, 17. After they had beaten and stabbed Mr Akram, Vakas poured acid over him. Adeel and Kuci were sentenced to 14 and eight years respectively for conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.

Mr Akram, a Danish-born Muslim who had come to the UK to study, suffered 47 per cent burns in the attack. He was left, according to one witness, looking like "a zombie".

Shakeel Abassi and his wife fled to Pakistan on the day of the attack. Mrs Khatoon returned to the UK voluntarily but fled overseas again. Police fear Mrs Khatoon may have been killed in Pakistan.