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Man found guilty of Mangle E8 acid attack

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 14 November 2017

Arthur Collins, the ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Fearne McCann, has been found guilty of injuring 22 people in an acid attack in an East London nightclub earlier this year.

As previously reported, around 600 people were evacuated from Mangle E8 in the early hours of 17 Apr, after a noxious substance was sprayed into the air within the club by Collins. He then went on the run, but was arrested by police several days later attempting to escape from an upstairs window of a house in Northamptonshire.

According to the Met Police, CCTV footage showed Collins get into an altercation with a group of men in the club. He took the bottle of acid “from the back pocket of an unidentified man”, before spraying it over the heads of the group he had been arguing with. The liquid was later found to have a rating of pH1, making it a strong acid. The cloud of liquid spread across the crowded dancefloor, with victims describing how their skin immediately blistered on contact with it.

In court, Collins said that on the night of the altercation he had been out celebrating his engagement to McCann and their pregnancy, which they had announced that Sunday. He then said that he believed the spray to be a date rape drug, and had not realised that it was acid until too late.

However, a police officer in court said that Collins had intended to “inflict serious harm” and was well aware of what was in the bottle. The court also heard that a week before the attack he had sent his sister a text message, saying: “Tell mum to mind that little hand wash in my car acid”.

The jury found Collins guilty of five counts of GBH with intent, and nine counts of ABH against fourteen people. Another man, Andre Phoenix, who was accused of helping him, was found not guilty.