Gangland ammonia attack outside Northampton town centre McDonald's featured on Channel 5 documentary series

The moment a police officer and a crowd of innocent bystanders were sprayed with ammonia in a gangland attack in Northampton town centre was featured on television last night.

'Police Code Zero' debuted its second series on Channel 5 last night (August 19) to share incidents of when police officers have been attacked while on duty.

The episode ended with the story of PC Victoria Ballantyne, who was splashed in the face with ammonia during a sudden confrontation between two gangs in Northampton town centre.

PC Ballantyne and her partner PC Karen Canwell were on duty outside McDonald's on the Drapery in the early hours of one morning in December, 2016, as partygoers headed to buy fast food after the clubs closed.

But the officers' attention was drawn by an argument that broke out between two gangs inside the restaurant that spilt out into the street.

The attack happened as the two officers tried to keep the gangs seperate.

PC Ballantyne told the programme in an interview: "I could hear this crackle...then out of the corner of my eye I could see the liquid come across from my right-hand-side

"Immediately after that was the smell and the sensation of burning in the back of my throat. That was the moment I realised this was ammonia or an acid attack. I think at the time I said acid attack."

PC Ballantyne, as well as dozens of innocent members of the public, had just been the victim of an indiscriminate attack in which three of the gang members had armed themselves with a Lucozade bottle filled with ammonia and had sprayed it across the crowd in a bid to hit their rivals.

PC Canwell said in interview: "It was chaos. There were members of the public holding their faces, they didn't know what was going on, they were shouting, screaming."

Bodyworn camera footage showed how PC Ballantyne tried to give chase was left doubled-over and coughing as a result of the chemical in her throat and eyes.

Even then, he and PC Canwell stayed to help bystanders wash the substance out their eyes using water handed out by staff at McDonald's.

Meanwhile, dozens of officers gave chase to the attackers.

In January 2018, three men - Jake Price, Frank Taylor and Ijuha Sterling-Campbell - were all jailed for a total of eight-and-a-half years between them for administering a noxious substance.

In court, the judge commended the two officers who "bravely" put others first and gave first aid to victims of the attack despite being splashed with ammonia themselves.

PC Ballantyne told Channel 5: "It's something that will stick with me throughout my career, and probably the rest of my life."

Police Code Zero airs on Wednesday night at 9pm on Channel 5.