WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES Paul Atkins, 38, was targeted at random while walking home from work through a graveyard in Ramsgate, Kent in February 2024 – his attacker is still at large
The victim of a random acid attack is still suffering with the horror effects two years on – as his case remains unsolved.
Paul Atkins, 38, was targeted while walking home from work through a graveyard in Ramsgate, Kent in February 2024. He says he didn’t realise it was acid at first but, within minutes, felt blood – before his clothes “melted” from his body.
Two years on, dad-of-three Paul still regularly suffers from night terrors and panic attacks – and the suspect is still at large. A man was arrested but later ruled out as a suspect, according to reports.
Paul, a bus driver and engineer, said: “I was literally just walking home and cut through St Lawrence graveyard around 8pm at night. All of a sudden I got wet from behind, someone had thrown something over me. Initially I thought it was water, maybe kids messing around. It was only a couple of minutes later that my neck started to burn.
“I put my hand round to the back of my neck and when I pulled it away there was blood on my hand, I thought ‘oh I am in trouble now’. My clothes literally melted from my body.”
Paul suffered third degree burns across his neck, down his back and on the front of his chest where the acid had run down the top of his head. He called 999 and was then raced to hospital.
He said: “I had a skin graft and plastic surgery to remove the burnt skin and replace it with skin from my thigh.”
Paul is still feeling the effects to this day – and has not been back to the graveyard since. He said: “I wake up in the night profusely sweating because I am having a panic attack.
“Even now I am still living the consequences of the attack. I have horrific scars down my chest and every time I look in the mirror it is just a constant reminder. The skin feels different from the back of my neck when I rub it, it doesn’t feel like skin anymore.
“I have not been back to the graveyard since and I do not think I will ever walk that way again because of the psychological damage that it has done to me since.”
Despite launching a large investigation and arresting one suspect, the police never found the person who committed the attack.
Kent Police said: “On the evening of Sunday 11 February 2024, a man had an unidentified corrosive liquid thrown at him after he entered St Laurence Graveyard, off Manston Road, Ramsgate.
“Following our response to the incident on the evening, a detailed investigation was carried out, which involved speaking to possible witnesses, a review of CCTV and forensic work.
“This resulted in the arrest of a man later the same month, but that man was later ruled out of our investigation and released without charge.”
A Freedom of Information request by Legal Expert recently revealed that the force recorded 86 acid attacks over the last three years.
Paul said: “For me personally more needs to be done from a Government level. It is not just in my area where these attacks are happening. It needs to be brought up at a national level but I guess if someone wants to go out and hurt someone they will.
“These attacks destroy lives and they destroy families.”