Trial continues of Ferne McCann’s ex-lover Arthur Collins

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

The ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann thought he was preventing a woman’s drink being spiked when he grabbed a bottle that turned out to have acid in it, a court heard today.

Arthur Collins, 25, and his co-accused Andre Phoenix, 21, are alleged to have sprayed the crowd with acid at Mangle E8 nightclub in Dalston, East London.

Two people were partially blinded and others were disfigured in the incident after a brawl erupted on the dancefloor.

CCTV showed victims clutching their faces and running off the dancefloor after Collins was seen dousing revellers with an unidentified substance later found to have contained a liquid with a rating of pH1 – indicating a strong acid.

Collins told Wood Green Crown Court of the moment he grabbed a bottle of a ‘date rape’ drug that turned out to be acid from another man in the club.

Collins, who had entered the club wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words ‘Candy Killer’, said he knew a lot of people in the club and he and his group had been ‘having a good time’. ‘I was drinking, but I wasn’t drunk,’ he said.

He was waiting on the stairs by the VIP area, when he said he overheard a conversation between a group of men. 

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

He added: ‘At this time the club was packed and more people started joining the table. I remember looking around and some males were talking, being quite loud. I didn’t know them. I overheard one of them saying ‘no you spike her, you do it.’

‘I called him a d***head. I thought they was intending to spike a girl’s drink. God knows what [they were going to do], I don’t know why.’

He said his sister’s drink had been spiked the previous night at a party, and had to be picked up by their father.

‘I have got four sisters and I have been brought up to respect them. It’s something you just don’t do to women. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I was tapped on the shoulder – by (Makai) Brown. He said ‘what did you say’?

‘I said ‘d***head, you’re not spiking no-one’. Then he got quite aggressive and threatening. He said ‘don’t chat to me like that. How about we spike you, you mug’.

‘That’s when I noticed he had the date rape drug in his hand or what I assumed was the date rape drug. It was like a mini, it was like a tiny water bottle. I think it was in his left hand.’

Collins said he snatched the bottle from Brown and his friend Andre Phoenix put his arm on Brown, as seen in CCTV footage.

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’

 

‘I remember moving back from him. My friend Andre kept telling him to calm down.’

Collins later admitted throwing liquid over people in the club, but claimed he believed it was a date rape drug. He said the men were ‘really aggressive’ as they came towards him in an attempt to get the bottle back.

‘At this time I was p***ed off,’ he said. ‘I remember undoing the bottle and I threw it at the males.’

Collins said he threw the liquid two or three times near Phoenix’s face and up in the air towards the men.

His barrister, George Carter-Stephenson QC, asked: ‘At the time you threw it, what was your intention?’

Collins replied: ‘I wanted to show them the drugs was gone so they wouldn’t spike any girl’s drink and show them there was nothing left in the bottle.’

His lawyer said: ‘Did you have any idea that bottle contained a corrosive substance?’

‘No, I didn’t. No, never, no,’ Collins replied.

He insisted he had no idea anyone had been seriously injured during the incident, adding: ‘I was never aware no-one was hurt or anything.’

Earlier, Collins – who is the father of The Only Way Is Essex star Ms McCann’s unborn child – revealed how the couple told her family she was pregnant just hours before the incident. 

He said they broke the news at a family barbecue in Brentwood on April 16, one day before the acid attack in the early hours of April 17. 

Collins told jurors that he had been in a serious relationship with the TV personality for around a year at the time, and had found out she was pregnant just weeks earlier.

‘It was the happiest I have ever felt. We were both really happy,’ he said. 

Collins, who was living with his parents in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, said McCann drove his car to her sister’s house because he was banned from driving.

‘After we had eaten we broke the news,’ he said. ‘They were really happy for us.’

He said he left the barbecue to attend a LoveJuice event at Mangle, where his friend had arranged a table, costing around £1,000.

Collins told jurors: ‘On the way to my girlfriend’s sisters, my friend George rang me and asked if I wanted to go out later on.

‘But I said I wanted to call him later on as I wanted to check it was alright with my girlfriend. It was the first mention of it, on the way to the barbecue. His friend Harry had booked a table for LoveJuice.

‘She (Ms McCann) didn’t mind. ‘He rang me again at about 4, and I said yeah and I arranged to meet him at my house, my parents’ house. I left about 20 minutes after that at about half 4. I went from my girlfriend’s sisters back to my parents.’

He said his one year relationship with Ms McCann ended in April after the incident. 

Earlier in the trial, the court heard that Collins does not deny throwing the liquid but claims not to have known it was acid.

Before Collins gave evidence on Wednesday, jurors were told that a number of the charges against him and Phoenix have been dropped following legal argument.

Collins has been on trial at Wood Green Crown Court, charged with 11 counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and five of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

But today, Judge Noel Lucas QC ordered jurors to deliver not guilty verdicts on two of the ABH charges against him.

Collins (right) began his evidence today by telling the jury he attended a family barbeque with Ferne McCann (left, together) to reveal her pregnancy just hours before the acid attack

The judge said there is insufficient evidence to prove that victims Tamara-Jane Castle and Megan Usher were injured when the acid was thrown.

Jurors have heard they may have been burned after brushing up against other victims in the packed nightclub.

Collins’s co-defendant Phoenix had faced five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and 11 counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm relating to the acid attack.

But judge Lucas ordered jurors to deliver not guilty verdicts on one count of GBH with intent and nine counts of assault occasioning ABH against him.

The judge explained there was ‘no evidential basis’ to decide whether Phoenix was involved when acid was first thrown.

Judge Lucas said it was up to the jury to decide whether Phoenix ‘assisted or encouraged’ Collins when he threw the corrosive substance a second and third time.

Phoenix still faces four counts of GBH with intent and two counts of assault causing ABH while Collins faces five of GBH with intent and nine of ABH.

Judge Lucas also said the jury could find Collins and Phoenix guilty of alternative counts of GBH rather than GBH with intent.

He said: ‘As I told you at the outset of the this case I’m the judge of law and you are ultimately the judges of facts.

‘The conclusion I have come to having reviewed submissions from learned counsel that in respect of the first throwing of a substance by Mr Collins theres no evidential basis of which you could conclude Mr Phoenix either assisted or encouraged Mr Collins to make that first throw.

‘That’s the view I have come to on the evidence. Now the first act of throwing by Mr Collins affects your count one, seven to 11 and 13 to 16.

‘I direct you to return verdicts of not guilty in respect of Mr Phoenix on those counts. It’s for your to determine the guilt of Mr Collins on all counts and Mr Phoenix on the remaining counts in the case.

‘I have also given leave to add alternatives to the first five counts. The first five counts charge causing GBH with intent contrary to section 18 of the Offence Against a Person act 1861.

‘The Crown will add counts of simple GBH contrary to section 20 of that act and those counts are alternatives in law to those section 17 counts. I discharge you on returning any verdicts in respect of counts 10 and 16 of Mr Collins.

‘It seems they were injured by a secondary transfer of acid. Their evidence is relevant in this trial – circumstances of the injuries they undoubtedly received will make your decision unnecessarily complicated.’

Collins and Phoenix, of Tottenham, North London, deny all charges. The trial continues.

Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk