Yesterday in the Metro I read about beautician Adele Bellis, yet another victim of an acid attack. This manly crime, for those of you not in the know, involves throwing sulphuric acid in the face of somebody you don’t like, leaving the victim permanently disfigured: often it’s the victim’s ex, as it was in Adele’s case.

I don’t know if this crime is on the increase, or whether it’s just that we hear about it more now. But either way, every time I read about it happening, it turns my stomach with disgust. Not only is it grievous bodily harm, and not only is it grievous mental harm and a total violation of the person, it displays a callous, cruel, wickedness which is both reprehensible and disturbing.

To be clear, I don’t know anyone who has been attacked in this way. But I just can’t bear hearing about it anymore and feeling powerless in the face of such cruel barbarity. Adele talks of how the Katie Piper Foundation has helped rebuild her life. The Foundation was set up by Katie Piper, a former model and victim of an acid attack herself. This flagged up what I rather densely hadn’t realised before — maybe there is an organisation set up to help people who’ve been attacked this way.

So I urge everyone to support the Katie Piper Foundation: http://www.katiepiperfoundation.org.uk/. Subscribe to the newsletter and keep abreast of their work. Follow the twitter feeds @KPFoundation and @KatiePiper_. And join me in setting up a standing order and donating:

Bank: HSBC
Account name: Katie Piper Foundation
Sort code: 40-02-13
Account number: 01733141

Please also check out the amazing documentary Saving Face and the Acid Survivors Trust International @Acid_Survivors.

© 2015 Bryan A. J. Parry

featured image from http://www.suffolk.police.uk/images/oxborough.jpg