Teenager to be sentenced for killing nurse in acid attack

A teenager is to be sentenced for what is thought to be the first acid killing in the UK.

The trial of Xeneral Webster, 19, at Reading Crown Court for the murder of Joanne Rand took a dramatic turn in April when he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of manslaughter part-way through the hearing.

He had armed himself with acid, which was knocked from his hand.

Joanne Rand, a 47-year-old nurse and mother of three, was hit with the high-strength sulphuric acid in last year as she sat on a bench in Frogmoor, High Wycombe.

The court heard that she screamed in pain and ran to a nearby branch of KFC to splash water over herself. She was treated and briefly released from hospital after suffering up to 5% burns on her body.

But she died 11 days later from multiple organ failure after contracting septicaemia due to the burns.

Webster, of Banstead Court, Westway, west London will also be sentenced for having a samurai sword.

Joanne's family said: