This Morning viewers were left horrified as a young woman recounted how a stranger threw acid over her while she was sitting in a car.
Resham Khan, 21, suffered life changing burns and unbearable pain after a thug chucked the corrosive liquid through an open window as she sat at traffic lights with her cousin just after 9am in the morning.
He was a complete stranger and Resham still has no idea why he did it.
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“I was sat there on my phone in the car with my cousin and this guy just came towards my window and started squirting from a bottle,” she recalled.
“I thought it was petrol at first, so I tried to do up my window and screamed at my cousin to drive. I thought if he was pouring petrol he [might then light it].”
However, it became clear the liquid was something else when Resham saw the dashboard start to smoke.
After squirting the liquid at her, the man ran around the car and did the same through the other window, targeting her cousin.
Her cousin tried to drive away but was disorientated and crashed the car.
Resham explained how they both got out and began calling for help, banging on doors and windows.
“At one point my cousin ran into a random person’s house who had left their door open, but they grabbed him and threw it out. They thought he was just an intruder.
“Eventually people started bringing out buckets of water. We stood under a hose.
“They told us to remove our clothes but they had already melted.”
Resham was particularly concerned as she was wearing contact lenses and feared they could melt into her eyes.
An ambulance was called but when it hadn’t arrived 45 minutes later, a passerby took the pair to hospital.
Resham described the pain of the acid as “unbearable”, saying: “I was praying to die.”
She’s now undergone three skin grafts and had stitches in her eye to help the skin elasticity, while she may need a fourth skin graft on her face.
“There’s a lot on my body too. My skin is lumpy and purple still,” she said.
“I have my good days and bad days. I think the most important thing for me, when it comes to how I feel, is thinking back to how much support I had from strangers all across the world.
“In my head it’s how I can’t let this break me when there are so many people wishing the best for me.”
The man who threw the acid, John Tomlin, admitted this week to grievous bodily harm with intent, meaning there’s no need for a further trial.
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When asked if she could ever forgive Tomlin, Resham said: “I don’t think this is about forgiveness as I will never understand what possesses someone to do what he did.”
Looking to the future, she now wants to return to university and start her own business.
Viewers were horrified by Resham’s story – and full of praise for her courage and bravery.
This Morning airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.