A council gardener was scarred for life after a woman threw concentrated sulphuric acid in his face because the sound of his strimmer annoyed her.

Derek Mahoney, 53, was cutting grass in Hackney when tenant Jacqueline Pocket doused him in drain cleaner — 91 per cent sulphuric acid.

Colleagues and neighbours poured milk shake and water on the screaming victim to try to wash the acid off.

But he lost three layers of skin from burns to his head, neck, face and back and spent months receiving treatment at a specialist unit.

Today — as Pocket began an unlimited hospital order over last May’s attack at the Keir Hardie estate — Mr Mahoney said: “I’m really disappointed with the decision. She should have been jailed.

“It was only by circumstance and me having working goggles on that I wasn’t blinded or worse. I am angry and I feel let down. The thought she could be out in just over a year is worrying, especially for the safety of the public. Who knows if she might do it again?”

Recalling the attack, he said: “When I felt the acid on my face it just got hotter and hotter. This has affected my life, not only physically with the burns but mentally. I’m afraid to go out and I’m quite jumpy around other people. I stay home a lot where I feel it’s safe.”

Pocket, 54, who admitted grievous bodily harm, said she found the strimmer noise “annoying”. She told Inner London crown court: “They were using a machine outside my door for cutting the grass. They were there for a while and I just put something in a cup and threw it.” Asked what was in the cup, she said: “It was drain cleaner.”

After being arrested at home and asked why she did it, she replied: “They get on my nerves. They think they can do what they like.”

Judge Paul Taylor told her: “I am satisfied you have a mental health disorder, identified by a number of doctors as delusional. It is appropriate you be detained for medical treatment under a hospital order. A prison sentence would be limited and would not properly protect the public from you.”

He added: “A hospital order could be seen as the soft option but in this case it is the opposite. It could lead to this woman spending the rest of her life in custody in a hospital environment.”

The judge said the length of the order depended on Pocket’s cooperation.