Towie star Ferne McCann’s ex-lover Arthur Collins ‘went on the run after nightclub acid attack as he feared London gang would target his pregnant reality star girlfriend’
The 25-year-old told a jury he hid in an unfurnished property in Northamptonshire while wanted by cops as he feared reprisals
THE ex-boyfriend of TOWIE star Ferne McCann went on the run after an alleged acid attack as he feared the reality TV star would be attacked by a London gang - a court heard.
Arthur Collins admits throwing the corrosive liquid in Mangle E8 nightclub in Dalston, East London, but claims he believed the small bottle contained a date rape drug.
The 25-year-old has told a trial he snatched the bottle as he thought the men holding it were planning to spike a girl's drink.
A total of 14 people were injured by the liquid in the early hours of April 17.
The jury at Wood Green Crown Court was today told Collins had no idea people had been injured until he read about it at his parents' house in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, later that morning.
He added he was later told the people he rowed with in the club were members of a London gang.
He said: "I was terrified. I have never been so scared.
"I realised by then what I took off those boys was actually acid and not the date rape drug.
"I didn't know what they were capable of."
Asked by his barrister George Carter-Stephenson QC if he thought about going to police, Collins said: "I did at that point, but I was so scared. I had a girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time, and my family. I didn't know what to do.
"I was worried about going to police. I was worried about my girlfriend carrying my baby."
Collins said he feared telling police about the men he believed to be gang members.
He said: "(I thought) that they were going to come hurt my family. It's easy, probably, to find out where my girlfriend lives. I just didn't know what to do."
Collins told jurors he was eventually arrested after hiding out at an unfurnished property in Northamptonshire.
He claimed he had already arranged with his solicitor to hand himself in and believed he was being targeted by the gang when officers banged on the door.
Collins said he was hit in the face and tasered twice after jumping out of the bathroom window, fracturing both of his heels in the fall.
Collins, of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, denies five counts of grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, and nine counts of actual bodily harm (ABH) against 14 people.
He is standing trial along with Andre Phoenix, of Clyde Road, Tottenham, north London, who denies four counts of GBH and two counts of ABH.
The trial continues.
