The former boyfriend of a British travel rep left with serious acid burns following an acid attack may have hired a hit-man to target her, police in Portugal believe.

Eleanor Chessell, 29, was left with second and third degree burns on more than 50 per cent of her body by her assailant, who uttered the single word ‘sorry’ in Portuguese before showering her with an unidentified corrosive liquid.

Miss Chessell has told police she did not recognise the man who attacked her and police in the popular Algarve resort of Alvor are now trying to trace her former-boyfriend.

Detectives are understood to be working on the theory that he may have hired a third person to carry out the attack for him.

Miss Chessell’s ex, who is thought to be Portuguese, is said to be known to police, following at least one previous incidence of domestic violence.

He is alleged to have forced Eleanor to switch hotels after tracking her down to a previous posting in Albufeira, on the Algarve, after she left Madeira, where they met.

It is believed Miss Chessell may have been lured by a phone call or message to the spot near an Intermarche supermarket where she was attacked, at around 10.20pm on Saturday.