The rising number of attacks using acid and corrosive substances as weapons, particularly in London, has resulted in a crackdown by the Government.

Criminals caught with corrosive substances twice will automatically face a prison sentence of at least six months under proposals to counter the threat of acid attacks.

Police figures show there were 408 attacks using corrosive substances between November 2016 and April last year.

Below are some of the most high-profile incidents in recent years: - Teenager Derryck John was sentenced to youth detention after carrying out a spate of acid attacks against moped riders in London in a bid to steal their vehicles. John targeted six riders in less than 90 minutes.

- In December last year Arthur Collins, ex-boyfriend of Towie star Fearne McCann, was jailed for 20 years for carrying out a brutal acid attack in a packed London nightclub. Sixteen people suffered chemical burn injuries.

- In the same month a pair of robbers who squirted corrosive cleaning fluid at two women were jailed for 10 years. Sadik Kamara and Joshua Jordan used the noxious liquid to instil terror in their vulnerable victims.

- John Tomlin was jailed for 16 years after seriously injuring an aspiring model and her cousin when he threw acid at them through a car window. He pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm against Resham Khan and Jameel Muhktar on Ms Khan's 21st birthday in Beckton, east London.

- Serial burglar Gerald Whelan, who doused a 69-year-old woman with acid after ransacking her home during a crime spree, was jailed for 18 years. He targeted 10 victims over three days in December 2016.

- Teenager Fahad Abdi, who sprayed acid in the faces of three people in a revenge attack in Kent, was detained for nine years. He left his victims with blisters, burns and temporary loss of sight after ambushing them in February last year.

- A man was jailed for 10 years after throwing acid in the face of Scottish Sun journalist Russell Findlay. William Burns posed as a postman before throwing sulphuric acid at the crime reporter.

- In March last year Katie Leong was jailed for life after pouring sulphuric acid on her partner as he slept at their home in Leicester. She was found guilty of the attempted murder of Daniel Rotariu who was blinded.

- Last month 19-year-old Xeneral Webster pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of nurse Joanne Rand who was splashed with sulphuric acid from head to toe as she was unwittingly caught up in a drugs dispute. Webster will be sentenced next month.

- David Phillips was jailed for life for blinding in one eye businessman Andreas Christopheros when he attacked him with acid in Truro, Cornwall in 2014 during a case of mistaken identity.

- Lee Calvert, Joseph Lowther, Robert Woodhead and Andrew Feather are all serving life sentences for murdering Barry Selby, 50, after a brutal acid attack. He died in hospital three days after the assault in Bradford in October 2013.