Suspect who threw acid on British-Muslim cousins may face life imprisonment

John Tomlin admitted before the court of causing grievous bodily harm with intent during the first day of the trial

The suspect accused of hurling acid on a British aspiring model Resham Khan has admitted before the court of causing grievous bodily harm with intent during the first day of the trial.

John Tomlin, who threw acid on Resham Khan and her cousin Jameel Mukhtar at a traffic light in Beckton, East London as the pair returned from celebrating Khan’s 21^st birthday in June this year, maybe facing maximum sentence of life imprisonment as he changed his pleas to guilty before the jury were sworn in at Snaresbrook Crown Court.



The 25-year-old winked to family members as he entered court for the hearing presided over by Judge Sheelagh Canavan who ordered psychiatric evaluation for Tomlin’s “somewhat random targeting” of the Muslim cousins – the pair says they never met Tomlin before. “I'm going to order a report on dangerousness in these circumstances so we are not going to proceed to sentencing this afternoon,” Judge Canavan said.

“I also need to know the prognosis of the injuries suffered at the time. This is in no way disrespectful to the victims; they well understand what their injuries are but they might not be able to assist me with what the prognosis is.”

The psychiatric report will assess the level of danger posed by Tomlin to the public. He was remanded in custody ahead of sentence on 26 January by Judge Canavan.

Although he admitted to two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, the motive for the attack is yet to be identified. However, the Metropolitan police have previously said there is “nothing to suggest the attack was racially motivated”.



Tomlin has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act and prescribed anti-psychotic medication. He was convicted of common assault in 2007, robbery in 2008 and assaults on police officers in 2014 and 2016.

Tomlin was handcuffed during his first appearance in court in July after prosecutor Alexa Morgan made an application for restraints considering his volatile behavior in custody. “There has been application from Serco to keep him in handcuffs,” she said. “He is very volatile and has been violent while in custody.”

Khan and 37-year-old Mukhtar were left with ‘life-changing’ injuries after they suffered the unprovoked acid attack. The pain was so excruciating that it forced them to strip off in middle of the road. “He [Mukhtar] put his foot down as we were coming onto a dual carriageway but the pain took over and we crashed. We stripped off in the middle of the road, running around screaming and begging for water. We did this for 45 minutes. No ambulance came,” said Khan. The pair was driven to the hospital by a passer-by and was transferred to a specialist burns unit.

Mukhtar was in a coma following the attack while Resham was given a skin graft. Even though Mukhtar is awake now, he still suffers from severe injuries.

This article originally appeared in the Daily Mail.