Pregnant TOWIE star Ferne McCann's ex-boyfriend didn't turn himself in after alleged acid attack 'because he feared she would be targeted by gang'

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Arthur Collins admits throwing the acid, but claims he through it was a date rape drug

The ex-boyfriend of The Only Way Is Essex star Ferne McCann told a court today he did not realise he had accidentally thrown acid at a nightclub until the next morning.

Arthur Collins, 25, burnt 16 people at the packed Love Juice event at the Mangle E8 nightclub in Hackney, East London, over the Easter weekend.

Collins claims he thought he was spraying a date rape drug and was 'terrified' of gang members who were victims.

He is charged with five counts of causing grievous bodily harm and nine counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm alongside his friend Andre Phoenix, 21.

Phoenix is charged with four counts of grievous bodily harm and two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Collins, of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, said was 'drinking, dancing, Snapchatting' after he threw the acid.

He is seen on CCTV on the main dance floor shaking hands with a friend and laughing with him on the main dance floor, after the other area had to be shut down. 

Collins injured more than a dozen people at the Mangle E8 club in Hackney, East London

Giving evidence today he was asked by his lawyer George Carter-Stephenson QC: 'Was there anything that led you to think there had been anything serious happening in the club?

Collins replied: 'No not at all. It's normal to see police cars outside a club when clubs are closing'.

Collins went on to say the group had plans to go to another club but ended up getting in taxis home.

How these two victims were left with burns 

Among the victims of the incident were Lauren Trent and Sophie Hall.

Lauren Trent (left) and Sophie Hall (right) were among the victims of the incident

Ms Trent was burnt in small patches on her neck, upper chest, abdomen and arms. She received burns to less than 1 per cent of her body and they were 'small and consistent with droplets of a corrosive substance'.

Ms Hall was seen in A&E at Whipps Cross University Hospital with small patches of burned skin on her nose, cheeks and other areas down onto her lips. Less than 1 per cent of her body was covered in third degree burns.

Ms Trent was burnt in small patches on her neck, upper chest, abdomen and arms

A 'larger area' on her left shoulder extending down to her left breast were also burnt. There were other small areas on her neck, upper chest and arms that were red. Most of her skin was said to be 'stained' by the acid.

She also had a scratch on her eye which was consistent with a chemical injury and was prescribed a 'number of' eye medications.

Ms Hall had to return to hospital after a wound to her left shoulder 'deteriorated', the court heard.

Ms Trent's burns were 'small and consistent with droplets of a corrosive substance'

 

He said it was not until the morning he realised that acid had been thrown in Mangles.

He said: 'We was all going to go to Basinghouse in Shoreditch. We were going to try and get a cab but there was none about, so we walked.

'Me, Andre, Adam, Del and George and about 15 to 20 other people. The walk was quite long and I think we came across a taxi office and by that time everyone couldn't be bothered to go.

'So we all got our own way home. Andre got his own cab home because he's more local. I got in a cab with George, Adam and Del.

'When I got in the cab, because it's a 40-minute drive from Mangles to mine, I fell asleep half way home. When I woke up I was with George. George stayed at mine.'

'I woke up probably about 9.30. I went into my parents' house to make breakfast and I rang George to say I had made breakfast.

'I remember we was eating breakfast and while we was eating he was on social media on his phone and I remember on Facebook it said an acid attack happened at Mangle nightclub.

'I was reading it and I didn't know anything about acid. I just kept reading what was being posted online - on social media.'

His lawyer asked: 'Did you have any concerns as time went on?'

Collins: 'Only as time went on. I was reading it and I put two and two together - where my friend's face had been injured -because he said his face was stinging.'

Collins said he himself woke up with a burn on his thumb but hadn't thought anything of it.

He said: 'We left there and I went to my sisters who was on holiday. I wanted to read what was going on and where she was on holiday I wanted to read about what's actually gone on in Mangle nightclub. I rang a few friends who I was with that night.'

Collins said he stayed at his sisters for 'three or four hours'.

Mr Carter Stephenson asked: 'Were you looking at social media the whole time?'

Collins: 'Yeah I was, an acid attack has happened at Mangle nightclub and I thought it describes what I had taken off the boys.

'I was terrified, I have never been so scared at that point. As the time went on more and more people and the number of posts kept going up.'

'What was the effect on you?' his lawyer asked.

Collins replied: 'I tried to call Andre but his phone was off. I rang my friend Del and he answered and I was talking to him and he was with a girl who knew the boys.

'She told him these boys were part of a gang and just told me to watch out because they are serious people. I was scared. I didn't know what to do I was scared.

'I realised by then that what I took off those boys was acid and not the date rape drug that I thought.

'Now I knew they carried these sorts of stuff I didn't know what they were capable of doing I didn't know who these boys actually were. My head was all over the place at that time.'

Asked if he thought about going to the police. he said: 'I did but I was so scared I had my girlfriend who was pregnant at the time and my family.

'I didn't know what to do. My girlfriend was pregnant I was worried about my family. I remember that night my dad rang me and police wanted me.

Collins (right), the ex-boyfriend of The Only Way Is Essex star Ferne McCann (left, together) said he did not realise he had accidentally thrown acid at a nightclub until the next morning

'I spoke to a police officer. I think they asked me where I was and can I hand myself in. I panicked, I told them I was in London. I panicked.

'I told them that I'm going to come in to the police station. I didn't tell them what day.'

Asked by his lawyer what stopped him, Collins said: 'It was the boys, it was the gang my friend told me they were part of.

'I was worried for my family and my girlfriend who was carrying my baby. Because if I went in there I'm going there to tell them the truth and I know they carried these sorts of stuff now. I didn't know what was going to happen.'

Mr Carter Stephenson asked 'What did you think might happen if you put those boys in it?'

Collins: 'That they were going to come after my girlfriend. Was easy to find out where my girlfriend lives and I just didn't know what to do.

'I remember going back to my brother-in-laws he lives near my parent's house. I stayed there for about three days.

'I wanted to sort out my solicitors and about going in to the police at that time. I had made up my mind [to speak to them]. That's when I found out two girls were apparently blinded.'

Carter Stephenson asked: 'What effect did that have on you?'

Collins replied: 'I don't know - I couldn't believe what I took off those boys was acid.'

Collins then went to the address he was arrested at in Northamptonshire.

Collins also insisted when he sent message to his sister about 'acid' he was referring to a hair loss shampoo he kept in his car.

He had two hair transplants in November 2016 and January 2017 and used products such as an 'amino acid' shampoo.

Collins said he kept at his sister's house in secret but transported a smaller bottle to his parent's and girlfriend's Ferne McCann.

He said: 'I was quite embarrassed. I got a transplant. It didn't come through it wasn't really good that time.

'I didn't tell her [Ferne]. Because I was really embarrassed thinking that I needed something. I was uncomfortable telling her.'

He said he kept the shampoo, which he bought at Kiehls in Selfridges, at his sister's house, who would also massage the 'amino acid' shampoo into his hair for ten minutes.

He also took hair loss tablets at the recommendation of his clinic.

Collins told jurors: Where I was embarrassed telling my girlfriend, and I'm embarrassed bringing it up in court, as well, but my sister used to massage it in my hair for about ten minutes.'

He said he tore the label off the bottle so that he could transport it without anyone finding out what it contained.

Collins said a iMessage found on his sister's phone reading 'Tell mum to mind that little hand wash in my car acid' refers to the 'amino acid' shampoo.

He said he was worried his nieces would pick it up and 'bite it' when his mother took them out in the car.

He said: 'I remember I threw it in the back of the car. Just that my nieces, knowing what they're like, would be getting hold of it. Biting it. Picking it up or biting it'

Mr Carter-Stephenson QC, defending, said: 'It [the iMessage] describes the bottle as a little hand wash bottle. Is that how you chose to describe it?'

Collins replied: 'It was the easiest way to describe it.

'My mum's not really good at using her iPhone so that's the reason I texted my sister. It was her children that were going to be in the car.'

Collins said he ran away from police when they found him in Northamptonshire because he thought when they were 'banging' on the front door at the house it was gang members seeking revenge.

He said: 'I had already arranged to hand myself in to police so I thought it was this gang at the door.

I remember jumping up out of bed and I ran to the bathroom window.'

He said he did not remember hearing shouts of police and jumped out of the window, landing on some bins below.

'I have got up and jumped over the fences in the garden. I didn't know it was the police. Because there was two fences I jumped over and I realised it was police when they all came around, around the other side.

'I was bending down because my ankles were killing me at the time.'

The has heard Collins fractured both heels of his feet in the fall.

He said: 'I was crying and saying 'I'm here.' I think I said it about five times.

'I remember they were saying 'hit him'. When I was bending down crouching on the floor I got tasered twice when the police came through the other garden I got punched in my face.

'I had more injuries that the police didn't take pictures of.'

He added: 'I didn't want to tell the police the truth and put the gang in it.'

Collins told the court he was attacked while being held in custody and believes it was gang-related.

He said: 'I don't know the date but it was around four weeks after I got into custody. My left leg was in plaster. It was before I knew I had broken the other one. I was on crutches, my right leg was quite hard to walk on.

'I remember coming off the exercise yard we had to walk up the top to get to the wing I remember leaning on my crutches waiting to get to the door and I saw some male that I didn't know.

'He was black. I remember him saying to me that I was on the news and what I was in for and what happened with the acid at the Mangle nightclub. He said he recognised me from the news.

'I asked him what he was in for as well and then he said kidnap, and after about five seconds he attacked me.

'I had no injuries. Because when he hit me I fell down on my crutches. He basically missed when he attacked me.' 

Phoenix, of Tottenham, North London, denies four counts of GBH with intent and two of assault causing ABH.