TV star’s ex ‘threw acid three times in nightclub’
THE former fiance of reality TV star Ferne McCann hurled acid over 17 people in a nightclub while wearing a top with “Killer” written on it, a court heard yesterday.
Arthur Collins, 25, threw corrosive liquid three times across a dance floor, a jury was told.
Collins and Andre Phoenix, 21, were at the Wringer and Mangle club in Hackney, east London.
At the time of the incident early on Easter Monday, April 17, The Only Way Is Essex star Ms McCann was pregnant with Collins’ baby.
Police arrested Phoenix four days later and traced Collins to a house in Rushden, Northants, on April 23.
Jurors heard he injured his leg leaping from a first-floor window wearing only a T-shirt and pants.
North London’s Wood Green Crown Court was told the club had been packed.
Luke Ponte, prosecuting, said: “A bit of trouble flares up. Some pushing, some shoving, some raised voices but it quickly escalates.”
Knife
The court heard Collins claimed three other men were planning to spike a girl’s drink and he feared a knife would be pulled on him.
Mr Ponte said Collins threw acid into the face of one of the men then flung it for a second and third time.
All three of the men in the row were injured along with 13 clubbers. Phoenix was also splashed.
Mr Ponte said Phoenix gave the liquid to Collins, who admitted throwing it but denied knowing what it was.
However the jury heard that a week earlier Collins had sent his sister a phone message warning that a “little hand wash” in his car was acid.
Collins, of Broxbourne, Herts, and Phoenix, of Tottenham, north London, deny five counts of grievous bodily harm and 11 of actual bodily harm. The trial continues.