A man suffered horrific acid burns after being doused in corrosive drain cleaner by his "father figure" for "becoming friendly with other people".
Joe Davies, 25, who was left burnt and blistered at the hands of cruel Roger Comer, said he felt like he had been set on fire after the incident.
Brave Joe today told of his relief after seeing evil Comer, 45, jailed for nine years for the July 2017 attack in the street.
Joe told how Comer started accusing him of trying to poison him by putting "vape juice" in his drink and angrily told him to leave his home.
Comer, who was a close friend he had looked up to, had rushed out of his house in Slough, Berkshire, as the younger man sat on his bike in the garden and threw sulphuric acid all over his face and body.
He said: "It was like someone poured petrol over me and lit a lighter.
"I met Roger through a friend of mine while I was living in a hostel, I've been in the care system since I was 14-years-old. He was a close friend of mine for just over two years, someone I started to look up to as a father figure.
"In July 2017, I didn't see him for three weeks and I went away with my foster mum. I went to Norwich to see her and the remainder of the time I was just having a good time with other friends and trying to complete my college course. When I next went to Roger's house, we got into an argument."
Joe had visited the property where Comer lived alone in Myrtle Crescent, Slough, but something had clearly changed and Comer made an accusation against him and asked him to leave the house.
"He accused me of putting vape juice into his drink. At first I thought he was mucking around, I thought he was having a joke. But then when he came to the door he was holding a screw driver, so I knew he wasn't joking.
"We had a close relationship and although he was holding a screw-driver, I never thought he would harm me. However, he carried on accusing me of trying to poison him and the reason for me apparently trying to poison him was to get his cats and his house. It's just completely preposterous.
"Apparently I was put on his will, I didn't know anything of that. He said that at the time and it came out in court again but I didn't agree to it or sign anything, I was unaware of it (the will). There had been a discussion about it months before but I've got my own property, I've worked for everything myself so I just found it uncomfortable and it was left at that."
Joe said he was in the front-garden of Comer's property and preparing to leave but Comer had decided he had overstayed his welcome and threw the corrosive acid over him, which immediately began to burn his skin.
"It was instant burning. He just stood and watched me burn while I pleaded with him to get me some water to dilute it. He went inside the house and shut the door, locking me out.
"When the acid was on me, the first and the only thing I thought was 's**t, I need to get this off'. I can't just watch myself burn, part of me was moving around and wanting to get help but I had to find ways to distract myself from the pain that I was suffering. I just knew I had to get it off."
Neighbours rushed to get the burning man water and a heroic neighbour hosed him down with garden hosepipe and called an ambulance.
Reflecting on the shocking attack, Joe said that he thought his former friend had acted out of obsessive jealousy.
"I personally believe it was one of two reasons. One, a cop-out excuse, I decorated the inside of his property, saving him thousands of pounds, and we had agreed he would buy me a brand new motorbike, which he could have paid for 10-times over.
"I believe that it was really jealously. I had stopped hanging around with him as much and I started enjoying my life as a young man. I believe it was a revenge attack for that.
"It feels like he was being possessive and he was trying to get out of paying me what he owed me, about £2,500. The agreement was he was going to buy me a brand new bike.
Comer was convicted by unanimous jury verdict at Oxford Crown Court, despite having claimed he acted in self-defence having seen Joe reach for something in his waistband.
He was sentenced to nine years imprisonment on one count of Section 18 grievous bodily harm with intent following a week-long trial.
The burns have had a lasting physical and psychological impact on Joe who said he thought he was going to die after the attack.
He revealed: "On one occasion I was outside Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, I was covered in bandages that I believe my neck was on show so you could see the scarring that was already starting to form.
"There was one guy in particular who walked past me but as he walked past his head kept on turning so much that he nearly tripped over his own feet just through staring at me. Even now, I still feel somewhat self-conscious about taking my top off in public, it's just never going be the same," added Joe who lives in Mead Close, Langley, Berks.
Joe told how he was rushed from the home of his acid attacker, who he said worked for Network Rail, and taken to hospital.
"I had a skin graft on my neck and they took skin from my thigh and put it on my neck, I had direct closures – where they cut out the dead skin and they stitch it back up – on my left and right arm and underneath my left armpit.
"I've been able to persevere through this whole thing, through court and all I can do is thank my counsellor, Albert, and my 29-year-old brother who supported me through the whole trial."
Joe is now coming to the end of his first year studying social work at High Wycombe university. He had been at East Berkshire college and had to defer his course in access to social science and social work course for a year, but on his return he threw himself back into his studies to the point he won the Most Outstanding Student award at the end of the academic year in 2018.
"To win that award it made me feel that anything is achievable, if you put your mind to something anything is achievable, and I'm proof of that.
"It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, or how young or old you are if you're a victim of such a vicious attack you shouldn't hide away, or keep yourself to yourself and not trust anyone.
"Don't let it have such a profound effect on your life. Although its been a hard two years, and I;be been doing counselling ever since, By letting someone have such a knock on effect on your whole life, ultimately you're letting them win.
"Show them that you're bigger, you're stronger and keep fighting for what you want in life."
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