A Paddington man has been jailed for 14 years for his part in a “truly shocking” acid attack which left an entirely innocent mother permanently disfigured as she collected her young twins from school.

Yannick Ntesa, 25, of Great Western Road, was found guilty the acid plot alongside Abdul Motin, 28, of Dagobert House, east London, and Ahad Miah, 31, of no fixed abode, after a six-week trial at Blackfriars Crown Court.

Motin was sentenced to 16 years while Miah was given 14 years.

The court heard how the trio brazenly attacked the woman in a busy street by the group shortly after 3.15pm on March 24, 2011, as she walked her sons - aged just six at the time - back from Upton Cross Primary School, in Newham.

The woman later described the moment she saw her attackers coming towards her, one carrying something in a bottle.

“He threw it over me and after a few seconds, it started burning,” she told the Wood & Vale’s sister paper, the Newham Recorder. “I was crying: ‘Please help me! Please help me!’

“Everyone was shocked.”

One witness described how her attacker laughed as he poured acid over her head, burning her clothes, body and her son’s school satchels. The injuries the woman was left with were so severe - 16 per cent full depth chemical burns across her face, scalp, chest and back - that she still receives treatment more than two years on and lives everyday in discomfort.

The acid also burned another witness, who was left with minor injuries, and the witness’s daughter’s anorak.

Det Insp John Reynolds, of Newham CID, said: “This was a truly shocking attack on a mother who had her two very young children with her at the time. It was only by chance that those children were not seriously injured. They did however suffer terrible shock from seeing their own mother so horrifically assaulted.

“The victim in this case is entirely innocent but will now spend the rest of her life having to adjust to the severe disfigurement inflicted on her.

“This sentencing demonstrates just how seriously the Met police and the courts treat such incidents. Those responsible have been bought to justice and we can only hope it brings some small comfort to the victim.”