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Arthur Collins: Ex-boyfriend of Towie star Ferne McCann guilty of nightclub acid attack

A former boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann has been found guilty of an acid attack in a London nightclub.

Arthur Collins was convicted of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and nine counts of actual bodily harm against 14 people.

The 25-year-old, from Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, hurled the substance over a crowd at the Mangle E8 in Dalston, east London, on 17 April.

Collins, who is the father of The Only Way Is Essex (Towie) star's newborn daughter, admitted throwing the bottle of fluid over clubbers but claimed he did not know it was acid.

He said he thought the liquid was a date rape drug, which he had snatched from two men after overhearing them planning to spike a girl's drink.

But the prosecution proved he had warned his mother in a text message 10 days earlier to "mind that little hand wash in my car acid".

More than a dozen people were injured when acid was thrown over clubbers on the dancefloor of the packed venue.

Victims described a burning smell and their skin "blistering straight away" before everyone started "screaming, shouting, running".

Clubbers shielded their faces with clothing, and rubbed ice on blistered skin.

The substance was later found to have a rating of pH1 - indicating a strong acid.

Collins' co-defendant, Andre Phoenix, 21, from Tottenham, north London, was acquitted of four counts of grievous bodily harm and two of actual bodily harm on Monday morning.

Collins was convicted on all counts on a majority verdict of 10 to two, and he will be sentenced on 19 December.

There were tears in the public gallery, which was packed with Collins' friends and family, as the jury's verdicts were read out.

Collins had told Wood Green Crown Court he had been in a serious relationship with Ms McCann for around a year at the time of the incident, 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 went on the run after the attack and was arrested a few days later.

He was Tasered as he was seized by armed police after trying to flee from an upstairs window of a house in Highham Ferrers, Northamptonshire.

He said he did not hand himself in to police because he feared Ms McCann would be targeted by gang members if he did.