THREE men have been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm after a three-year-old boy was attacked with acid.

The men, aged 22, 25 and 26, have been arrested in London, suspected of attacking the boy at around 2.15pm on Saturday in Home Bargains, Shrub Hill Retail Park, Tallow Hill, Worcester.

The boy was taken to hospital with serious burns to his arm and face. He has since been discharged but the long-term implications of his injuries are unknown at this time.

Chief superintendent Mark Travis said that he hoped the injuries would not be "life changing."

He said: ""We are hoping the injuries won't be life changing. They are serious and at the moment it's just that little bit too soon to say, but things look positive."

Detective inspector Tony Garner said: "We'd like to thank everyone who shared our appeal over the weekend and contacted us with information; all of this is helping us to build up a better picture of this incident.

"We're continuing to urge anyone else with information to contact us."

A 39-year-old man from Wolverhampton arrested yesterday on suspicion of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm remains in police custody.

Supt Travis added: "I would like to thank everyone in our local community and across the country for their help and support with this investigation.

"The response to the images we released has been fantastic.

"This has been a shocking incident which we know has caused a great deal of concern in our community.

"I can reassure people that Worcester remains a safe place to live and work and that such crimes remain thankfully extremely rare in our area.

"Our thoughts are with the little boy and his family at this time and we are absolutely committed to getting to the bottom of this incident.

"We would ask that the media continues to respect their privacy at this difficult time.

"We are not issuing any further information regarding their identities for operational reasons.

"I would like to pay tribute to my officers, some of whom have worked for 24 hours without rest on this investigation and have done a thorough and painstaking job.

"The operation has been a great example of partnership work across this police force but also with other forces across the country.

"There is still work to do and we are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances of the incident.

"We are still appealing for anyone with information to come forward and help us with our enquiries."

Anyone with information call police on 101 quoting incident 442s of 21 July 2018. Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.