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Hackney 'acid attack': TOWIE star's boyfriend Arthur Collins arrested

Arthur Collins was arrested last night: Met Police
Arthur Collins was arrested last night: Met Police

The boyfriend of TOWIE star Ferne McCann has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after an alleged acid attack at a south east London nightclub.

Arthur Collins, 25, was hunted by police this week in connection with the attack at the Mangle club in Hackney on Bank Holiday Monday, which left two people blind.

He was found and arrested by armed police in Rusden in Northamptonshire on Saturday night and is set to be taken to a London police station, a Met spoksesman said.

Mr Collins’ celebrity girlfriend Ms McCann made an impassioned appeal for him to hand himself in this week, claiming to have been told by officers he may have fled to Spain.

A Met spokesman said: "Arthur Collins, 25, was arrested at an address in Rushden, Northants on Saturday night, 22 April by officers from the Met's Specialist Crime & Operations and Hackney Borough, with the assistance of armed officers from the East Midlands Operational Support Service and Northamptonshire Police.

"Collins has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He will be taken into custody at a London police station in due course."

One man has been charged in connection with the alleged attack.

Andre Phoenix, 21, has been charged with seven counts of grievous bodily harm, having been arrested on Friday.

A second man, 24, was also arrested on Friday and has since been released from custody.

A 22-year-old woman was left blind in one eye in the attack in Sidworth Street on Monday, April 17, while detectives revealed on Friday a second victim has also been blinded.

Twenty people were hurt after the “noxious substance” was sprayed into a crowd of revellers at the night club.