Katie Piper acid attack: repeated

I remember when I first read about the story of Katie Piper, an innocent young woman who was horrifically disfigured by two Shepherd's Bush men who carried out an attack using acid in response to her having ended a relationship with one of them. Thankfully they no longer live in our area, and won't be coming back in Daniel Lynch's case for at least another 15 years. (Although the sentence given to the man who actually threw the acid was a pathetic 6 years.)

Since then Ms Piper has proved to be an inspiration, having delivered the Channel 4 Alternative Christmas Message last year and speaking out about her experiences. It was clear from some of the comments from you that you found her story very moving but also in some cases you argued that this was the tip of the iceberg.

So this story in the Standard about what on the surface seems to be a very similar attack, this time on a man who had committed the sin of having a relationship with someone who'se family didn't like it, was  pretty depressing. The men who are suspected of carrying out the attack are believed to have fled to Pakistan.

And then look at this story, actually from Pakistan, which deals with what seems to be a shockingly large problem of women being attacked with acid for a whole variety of reasons. Unsurprisingly given the links between that country and ours it would seem that the vile practice is becoming increasingly common here in the UK.

We are lucky to live in Shepherd's Bush because it's a fantastic local area, but my word there are some truly horrendous individuals around, and I wonder what more needs to be done to talk about this growing problem.

Meanwhile, on his visit to Hammersmith this week Home Secretary Alan Johnson attacked Boris for deciding to cut Police numbers in London.