Britain's first acid attack killer loses Appeal

The first man to have killed someone using acid in Britain has lost his court appeal.

Xeneral Webster, Britain's first acid attack killer lost his appeal two years after he was sentenced to 17 years in jail.  

The 21 year old killer asked three appeal judges to let him challenge his manslaughter conviction.

Webster admitted the charge in 2018 part way through his trial following the death of his victim, mother-of-three Joanne Rand, 47.

Xeneral Webster, from Westway, west London, claimed he had admitted manslaughter after being given incorrect legal advice.

However Lady Justice Carr, Judge Richard Marks and Mr Justice Sweeney dismissed his bid at a Court of Appeal hearing in London.

The judges asserted that Websters appeal had wasted court time and resources and they imposed a 56-day 'loss of time' order.

The order delays Webster's release date and means the time he spent in jail waiting for a decision on his appeal bid will not be counted as part of his sentence.

Webster was jailed in July 2018 after pleading guilty to Ms Rand's manslaughter at Reading Crown Court.

Joanne Rand, a carer who worked with dementia sufferers, was splashed with acid in June 2017 as she sat on a bench in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, after visiting her daughter's grave, a jury was told.

Webster had traveled by train to High Wycombe, armed with the bottle of acid, to meet a man in connection with a drug deal. He encountered a man on a bike and tried to steal it.

A tussle ensued and Webster produced the bottle of acid with its lid already off.

The bottle was then kicked from his hand and the contents splashed over Ms Rand, who was sitting 40ft away. 

Mrs Rand ran screaming in pain to a nearby KFC restaurant to douse herself in water in High Wycombe. 

She was left with five per cent burns and died in a specialist unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital 11 days after the incident in Frogmoor, High Wycombe.

Chemical burns from the sulphuric acid became infected, causing multiple organ failure from sepsis.

Judge Angela Morris handed down a 17-year sentence and imposed an extended licence period of three years.

Webster also admitted possessing an offensive weapon - a bottle of sulphuric acid - and affray during the incident in High Wycombe.

He also admitted a number of offences relating to a separate incident - possessing an offensive weapon - a samurai sword and ammonia, criminal damage, and making threats to kill.

Last October Webster was convicted of throwing a noxious substance at another innocent victim, Neetta Vaidhya, three months before the fatal attack on Ms Rand. 

His trial at Oxford Crown Court heard he threw the sulphuric acid at the unsuspecting mother at a cinema in west London on March 8, 2017. 

She thought she had been hit by a cup of hot coffee before she realised a burning sensation in her hands and feet and her sock melting. 

The jury heard he had been intending to throw the substance at a man he was arguing with, but it hit Ms Vaidhya by mistake.

Stay connected! If you want to be notified of our latest videos, livestreams and more, why not consider subscribing to our Purged.tv channel!