'It's going to melt his face off'

SICK BOAST OF BRUTE WHO THREW ACID ON BOY

- By AMY WALKER

A THUG launched corrosive acid in the face of a 16-year-old boy in an 'insidious' revenge attack.

Gilson Martins approached the lad in Stockport in March last year before demanding his coat off him. He then threw the substance into his face and fled.

Nearby, awaiting co-defendant Joanne Edwards, 45, picked him up and drove him from the scene on Brandon Road. In the hours after the attack, he boasted it had 'gone down a treat.

The 16-year-old went to a friend's house to shower off the acid before going to hospital. He was left with a large chemical burn to his neck and face.

Days later, Martins then hunted down the 21-year-old son of Edwards, who had overheard his plans to attack the boy, during which he showed off the acid and exclaimed: "Imagine that on his skin? It's going to melt his face off."

Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard he kicked in the back door of his house while the man barricaded himself in his bedroom. Martins, 23, then made threats to stab him and throw acid on him before stating he would 'carve his name into him.

When Martins was finally caught, police found drugs, a balaclava and a bottle of hydrofluoric acid.