'My skin felt like jelly': Dad's hell after gangland enforcer hurled acid in his face in 'wicked' attack

A dad has told of the horrifying moment a gangland enforcer hurled acid in his face in a "barbaric" attack.

Jonathan Gordon, who charged £6,000 to carry out an acid attack and £10,000 to blind his victim, left the father in agony with life-changing injuries. The "truly wicked" attacker lay in wait for the victim outside his home in St Helens and pounced as he collected a charger from his car.

In a heart-rending victim impact statement, the victim. Lee Deakin, described the terror and agony of his ordeal. He said: “My skin felt like jelly. As I washed my face it felt as if my skin was falling off my face.

"My eyes and skin continued to burn and I was in agony.” He said he was “left in a world of darkness, depression and dependency”.

He added: “I thought first about my family. They needed me, but I couldn’t support them in the state I was. I worried that I would forget my children’s faces. I thought about the fact they would age and their faces would change, but I would only ever know them as children.

“I accepted I would never be the father they deserved. I’d never be able to drive them anywhere. I’d never be able to see them play their football matches. I’d never see their school play. They would bring me painting and drawings home from school and I would pretend I could see the picture in front of me."

The victim managed to get back inside his house and doused his face with water. He was blinded but regained partial vision in one eye months later after extensive medical treatment and identified Gordon at an identity parade – but said his “health and recovery teeter on a knife edge”.

Gordon was jailed for life today over the horrific attack and plots to blind two more victims. He had been found guilty at an earlier