Acid attack victim who gained world's sympathy after horrific attack admits her injuries were 'self-inflicted'

• Motive behind Bethany Storro's bizarre plan is still a mystery
• How - and where - she inflicted injuries remain unclear
  
• Police: 'She's very remorseful... This got bigger than she expected'
• Still not clear if she will be criminally charged

The woman who gained sympathy around the world after a stranger threw acid in her face has made a shocking confession: she made the whole thing up.

Bethany Storro, 28, confessed to police yesterday, saying the severe burns she suffered in the horrific 'attack' were actually 'self-inflicted'.

Police said they did not know the motive behind her bizarre plan.

Her confession - which is set to cause outrage around the world - came after police, suspicious at the holes in her story, turned up the pressure by searching her house.

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Severely burned: Bethany Storro is flanked by her parents Nancy and Joe Neuwelt during a news conference earlier this month at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon. Her story has been exposed as a lie

Before surgery: Bethany suffered second-degree burns to her face, but doctors say the operation went well

It is not clear if she will be criminally charged. ‘It’s obvious to everybody here that she’s got a fragile mental state,’ said Commander Marla Schuman, who led the investigation to find the bogus attacker.

‘She is extremely upset and remorseful. This got much bigger than she expected.

He added that the investigation had wasted hundreds of hours of police time.

Storro had claimed a black woman in her late twenties came up to her as she walked into a Starbucks coffee shop and hurled the acid in her face after saying: ‘Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?’

She suffered severe burns, her eyesight saved only by a pair of sunglasses she had allegedly bought earlier that day.

But after she held a press conference about her horrific experience, doubts began to emerge about her story.

A reporter for the Vancouver Voice visited a park where Storro claims she was attacked and talked to a number of homeless people who had witness the incident.

They claimed she was 'clearly alone when she dropped to the ground screaming.'

There were also questions about how Storro - who has been almost deaf since having spinal meningitis as a child - could have heard what her assailant said.

The internet was soon rife with rumours that the attack was a hoax.

Then Storro pulled out of an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show, claiming the interview 'was going to possibly turn into another direction, so my family and I decided not to go on.'

Police began to find holes in Miss Storro’s story soon after she posed with bandages covering her head.

There was no question that she had been badly burned by strong caustic acid, possibly hydrochloric or sulphuric acid.

But doctors suggested the splash pattern of the acid wounds looked like liquid had been poured or rubbed on the skin, rather than thrown.

And hard as they tried, police could not find any witnesses to back up Miss Storro’s version of events.

Vancouver police chief Clifford Cook said Storro was still being interviewed by detectives.

'Hey pretty girl': The chilling words that Bethany claimed the stranger spoke to her before throwing an acid-like liquid in her face. It is still not clear why she carried out her bizarre plan

The police chief said that 'during the course of the investigation, several discrepancies began to emerge regarding the alleged attack.'

That led police to search her home earlier Thursday and question her again

'During the interview, Ms Storro admitted the injuries were self-inflicted,' Cook said.

Funds were set up for Storro at Umpquah and Riverview Community banks. The banks have not yet commented on the latest revelations.

Vancouver police Commander Marla Schuman said detectives were working on a way to return any money donated to Storro.

Schuman said the alleged attack and the probe stretched the resources of Vancouver's small police department.

Discrepancies: Vancouver Police Chief Clifford Cook said Storro was still being interviewed

'It's been hundreds of hours,' Schuman said about the time invested in the investigation.

'It really took a toll on the department and the resources that we have.'

Cook said any decision to charge Storro with a crime would be left to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

'She is extremely upset,' Schuman said. 'In many ways, this got bigger than she expected.'

Schuman was asked whether Storro will face a charge of filing a false police report, to which she responded: 'At this point, yes, that would certainly fit.'

Storro's parents, Joseph and Nancy Neuwelt, have not yet commented on the latest revelation about their daughter.

The couple has called the alleged attack 'an act of evil,' but said the family would persevere.

A burn surgeon who operated on Storro said the substance thrown on her face was an acid as strong as hydrochloric or sulfuric acid.

Storro held a press conference as she recovered in the burns unit at a hospital in Portland, Oregon, earlier this month.

She was hailed as 'brave' as, heavily bandaged after her operation, and flanked by her mother and father, she said: 'It was the most painful thing ever.

'My heart stopped. It ripped through my clothing the instant it touched my shirt; I could feel it burning through my second layer of skin.'

Her mother said had Storro not been wearing the sunglasses - which her daughter claimed she had bought just an hour earlier, despite never wearing sunglasses - may have saved her eyesight.

She referred to it as 'the hand of God protecting her eyes - she would have been blind'.

At the press conference, Storro insisted that she would not let the attack wreck her life, and even joked about the possibility of losing her sight.

She revealed that she had spinal meningitis twice as a child, which robbed her of most of her hearing, and said, 'Oh my gosh, to be hard of hearing and blind? That would drive them nuts', referring to her parents.

She added: 'They have to be in the same room for me to hear them. I'm just so glad it's a miracle.'

Starbucks: The scene of the 'attack' in Vancouver, Washington. No witness was found to corroborate Storro's story

And, in quotes now revealed to be fabrication, she said of her 'attacker': 'I have never, ever seen this girl in my entire life. When I first saw her, she had this weirdness about her - like jealousy, rage.

'Was it a dare, or did the woman wake up Monday morning and tell herself that today, she was going to "carry some acid in a cup and throw it on the first person I see?".'

Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said that doctors and authorities are trying to determine what kind of substance caused Storro's facial burns.

Dr Nick Eshraghi said Storro suffered second-degree burns and perhaps deeper burns. He added that his goal during the surgery was to remove as much damaged skin as possible.

At the time of the press conference, Mr Neuwelt said the family hoped the attacker was quickly found.

'You can imagine how I feel,' he said. 'This is my little girl. We're going to get through this we're not going to allow this to stop our lives. We're going to get through it.

Miss Storro had only recently moved back to her home town after splitting up with her husband.

Just days before she admitted lying, her former mother-in-law, Pamela Storro, called claims that she made up the story ‘insane.’

‘There is no way she would ever do anything like this,’ she said, adding that the idea that she fabricated the incident was ‘as hideous as the crime itself.’

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