A 17-year old from Thornton Heath who attacked six moped drivers with acid has been named after pleading guilty in court.
Derryck John. Pic: Met Police
Judge Noel Lucas lifted the reporting restrictions on identifying the teenager because the case was of “overwhelmingly huge public interest”.
Derryck John, who was 16 at the time of the attack last July, doused six delivery drivers with corrosive liquid in north and east London in 90-minutes.
One of his victims was left with “life-changing” injuries according to the police. John said in court: “I didn’t appreciate the damage that would be done.”
He managed to steal two of the six mopeds he targeted from their owners before being arrested at 3am on July 14.
John had previously denied the charges, but admitted the crimes after seeing new CCTV footage of himself riding one of the stolen mopeds.
John pleaded guilty to all 12 charges, including six counts of throwing a corrosive substance “with intent to disable, maim, disfigure or do grievous bodily harm”; two counts of robbery and four counts of attempted robbery.
The 17-year old said: “I’m terrified of the sentence that I will receive and I’m very sorry for what I did and realise I will receive a significant sentence of imprisonment.” Sentencing will take place on March 9 at Wood Green Crown Court.
Judge Lucas sentenced Ferne McCann’s boyfriend Arthur Collins for 25 years for an acid attack in a Dalston club last year.
Detective Sergeant James Leeks from Hackney CID said John “did not think twice” about what he did. “If someone is in fear of being attacked with acid, or knows someone who is going to use it, they need to report it to police or confidentially through Crimestoppers.”
After John’s name was released, ELL found that he was missing from his home in Thornton Heath a month before the attack happened. The Metropolitan police had no comment on his whereabouts prior to the event but told ELL “the important thing is he’s been convicted for a number of serious offences and will be off the streets for a long time”.
