A DAD accused of orchestrating an acid attack on his three-year-old son sent a text message hours later which read ‘nailed it!’

The 40-year-old father sent the message seven hours after the alleged sulphuric acid attack in Home Bargains, Worcester which left the boy screaming in pain, a jury heard at Worcester Crown Court today. The father's first picture message showed a cartoon image of a deer comforting a fox with its head in its hands, sent to alleged co-conspirator and alleged 'middle man' Jabar Paktia at 9.15pm on July 21 last year. Jonathan Rees QC, prosecuting, said a further message from the father to Paktia followed a minute later.

He said: “The sticker features a young lady in it with a motif which says ‘nailed it!’”

The jury heard there was a string of text messages between Norbert Pulko and his sister the day after the attack. Pulko, Jan Dudi and Adam Cech were in Home Bargains when the boy was squirted with acid. Cech was observed on CCTV extending his arm towards the boy who suffered burns to his face and arm and was taken to Worcester hospital. Pulko's sister wrote: "Why did you do this?"

Pulko replied: "I'm stupid. I know I'm going for a minimum of 15 years to prison. If I go I'm going to kill myself before they put me there."

She said: "Why are you texting me this? You know it hurts me."

At one point during the exchange Pulko writes 'I can't change what I done' and is advised by his sister to delete the messages.

Pulko responds: "I will delete it now. Don't write back. Bye."

The 22-year-old defendant accessed a website researching transport links between London and Bratislava, capital of his native Slovakia. His phone was also used to search for news articles about the acid attack. Badiova did the same, using Google Translate. After the incident Pulko changed his SIM card but carried on using the same handset. Mr Rees talked the jury through the telephone contacts and movements of the seven defendants, all of whom deny conspiracy to apply a corrosive fluid.

The prosecution say there was a meeting between the father and the occupants of a Vauxhall Vectra said to be Pulko, Cech and Dudi in the carpark of the Blackpole Inn in Worcester at around 10.20am on the morning of the alleged attack which happened around 2.15pm that afternoon. The trial continues.