Police say the pair were "two men of violence who regularly came to Hampshire to pursue a criminal enterprise" and spread misery.
19:56, UK,Tuesday 21 June 2016
Two brothers who threw acid at a woman blinding her in one eye in a "barbaric" attack have been jailed for a total of 24 years.
Billy and Geoffrey Midmore spayed Carla Whitlock in the face with drain cleaner outside a restaurant in revenge for a botched £2,000 drug deal.
Southampton Crown Court heard that following the attack last September Geoffrey Midmore sent a photograph of the bottle on WhatsApp to an acquaintance.
It was accompanied by the words: "This is one face melter."
Ms Whitlock, 37, suffered severe burns and police say she is still struggling to cope with her injuries.
Billy Midmore, 22, of no fixed abode, was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and given a 15-year sentence, plus five years on licence.
Geoffrey Midmore, 27, was jailed for nine years after he admitted the same charge.
Chief Inspector Debra Masson, of Hampshire Police, said: "Carla still faces many challenges, alongside the permanent loss of sight in one of her eyes, due to this barbaric act.
"This was a premeditated assault carried out by two men of violence who regularly came to Hampshire to pursue a criminal enterprise, and make people's lives a misery.
"The evidence shown in court of their behaviour directly after the attack, coupled with their concerted efforts to evade capture, served to expose them as the dangerous criminals they are."
The men struck outside the Turtle Bay restaurant on 18 September, leaving Ms Whitlock with severe burns to her face and eyelids.
Billy Midmore's trial heard the brothers had visited several DIY stores to buy a particular brand of drain cleaner, called One Shot, which had the highest concentration of sulphuric acid.
Describing the attack, Ms Whitlock told the trial: "I felt my face was on fire."
Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, said it was carried out after she had introduced a man called Levi to the Midmore brothers and a deal with him worth £2,000 had gone wrong.
She explained that Ms Whitlock and her partner had recently bought drugs from the brothers, who originally came from London and had connections to Kent.
Ms Maylin told the jury: "Because that drug deal went wrong, these two brothers decided to enact their revenge by permanently scarring Miss Whitlock."
She said the brothers were seen on CCTV later that evening as they took a train to stay at a friend's house in Basingstoke.
She added: "They weren't sorry, they were jubilant, they were high five-ing, they were fist-bumping, they were laughing."
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