MPs have backed calls for the government to get tough on acid attacks after a spate of incidents in recent weeks. 

Both Conservative and Labour MPs have called for tougher sentences, as well as a crackdown on sales and a new criminal offence for those carrying sulphuric acid.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has already indicated acid attack convictions could soon carry life sentences as part of a crackdown on corrosive substances. 

Labour former minister Stephen Timms, who led a Commons debate on the issue, said that acid is becoming a "preferred weapon for gangs carrying out robberies".

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Timms said: "It’s easy to obtain, it's cheap, it's hard to trace back to the perpetrator, and while it's relatively hard to obtain a gun, knives are more tightly restricted.

“Criminals seem to have concluded that acid is a less risky weapon for them to commit violent crimes.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Ex-boxer Michael Watson was attacked during a carjacking in Chingford

"What I think we need to do, and I'm sure the minister will agree, is make acid more risky than it has been seen to be in the last two or three years.".

There has been a string of acid attacks in east London and west Essex in recent months. 

In February, 19-year-old Bradley Robinson, from Epping Green, was temporarily blinded when carjackers sprayed a corrosive fluid in his face outside a Loughton petrol station.

Weeks later, partially-disabled boxing legend Michael Watson and his carer, Lennard Ballack, were attacked with a similar substance during an attempted robbery in Chingford.

The following month, a 29-year-old man was found by passers-by writhing in agony in the street after he had acid thrown in his face in Calderon Road, Leyton.

In April, a 43-year-old man from Tunbridge Wells was sprayed in the face with acid during another carjacking, this time in Buckhurst Hill.

In June, healthcare worker Syed Nadeem was attacked with acid and robbed by a masked gang as he walked home from Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

A man was sprayed in the face with acid in Calderon Road, Leyton, in March

Finally, earlier this month, two teenage boys were sprayed in the face with a corrosive substance and beaten in Wanstead High Street after they were confronted by a group of men.

Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Sophie Linden, wrote a letter to all London council leaders last week, insisting police were treating the rise in the number of incidents seriously. 

The letter said there has been 408 recorded attacks in the capital in the year to March 31, 2017, with the problem particularly prevalent in east London. 

Ms Linden wrote: “There is no place for this type of violence in our communities.

“The police will take a zero-tolerance approach to it wherever it occurs. These are serious criminal offences and those caught and prosecuted face going to prison. 

“I understand the impact these attacks can have on communities and would encourage anyone affected to report them to police or through community reporting channels to help ensure that offenders can be brought to justice and victims offered appropriate support.”