An innocent man died horribly when concentrated ac

An innocent man died horribly when concentrated acid was thrown
in his face by the aggrieved victim of a pub brawl.

The hydroflouric acid – which is so strong it even eats
through glass – was thrown by John Moore, 33, to avenge the
beating he received shortly before, the Old Bailey heard.

But his victim, Anthony Davies, 52, had played no part in the
fight.

He joined the three drinkers who had been involved after
Moore had been forcible ejected from the pub.

Mr Davies, an unemployed window cleaner of Halliford Street,
Islington, died three days later from his horrific injuries.

Moore, from Walkinshaw Court, Elizabeth Avenue, Islington,
denies murder.

The court was told the fatal acid attack occurred after a
marathon drinking binge by Moore on June 21 last year which ended
up in the Oxford Arms pub in Elizabeth Avenue, Islington.

At 9.

30pm, he tried to use the public phone which was near
where three friends of Mr Davies were drinking, said prosecutor
Mr David Paget.

‘Moore was sufficiently affected by drink to have difficulty
getting the phone to work.

‘One of the three began to assist him and all he got for his
assistance was abuse from Moore, who got it into his head that
one of the men was a grass – a police informer – and said so.

‘The three men essentially told him to leave then got up and
assaulted him.

‘
Moore was unceremoniously turfed out of the pub and told by
the landlady not to come back.

He mistakenly thought his jaw was broken and went a builders
yard just up the road where he had once worked in order to get a
weapon ready to return and ‘get his own back’, counsel said.

In the yard, he found a container which he later told police
he thought contained a diluted metal-cleaning acid that would
cause discomfort, but no serious injury.

But the contents were in fact concentrated hydrofouric acid,
which was so strong it was used to etch glass.

Moore returned to the pub, filled an empty pint glass with the
acid and went to confront his attackers, Mr Paget said.

‘The three men were still there and they had by then been joined
by Mr Davies.

‘The defendant effectively challenged them to come outside and
sort it out.

‘The three men and Mr Davies got up to go out, with Mr Davies
in the lead.

‘All of a sudden, Moore threw the glass full of liquid so that
it struck him in the face and arms.

‘
Mr Davies was immediately stopped in his tracks by the extreme
pain.

Moore fled.

The effects of the acid were devastating, counsel said.

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‘His clothing disintergrated within a very short space of time.

‘
Mr Davies was rushed to hospital, but complications directly
caused by the acid attack led to his death three days later.

Moore gave himself up to the police a few days later.

He told
detectives he had no idea he had thrown hydroflouric acid.

But, the court was told, the building company from where Moore
claimed to have got the acid was later to tell police that it had
known of the lethal substance in its yard at the time.

Mr Paget said it was a matter for the jury to consider whether
Moore had unwittingly grabbed acid from the yard or if he had
actively sought out hydroflouric acid either there or elsewhere.

That acid ‘bubbled and boiled’ in contact with the air, unlike
the acid the defendant claimed he thought he had, the court
heard.

‘If Moore wanted to get his own back, would it be any use to
take comparitively harmless substance? Or would he need a more
potent substance and throw it, knowing what the effect would be?’
Moore denies murder.

The trial continues.

ENDS
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