Arthur Collins, the ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann, has been jailed for 20 years with an extra five years on licence after carrying out an acid attack in a London nightclub.



The 25-year-old was sentenced at Wood Green crown court on Tuesday over the April attack at the Mangle E8 club in Dalston, east London, which happened after he got into a fight with a group of men.



He had been convicted at a hearing in November of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and nine counts of actual bodily harm.

Passing sentence, Judge Noel Lucas QC said: “Your case has attracted a great deal of public interest. This is because what you did at the Mangle club ... was a despicable act.”

Lucas praised the “extraordinary courage” of three women who stood in court to describe the impact of their injuries. Phoebe Giorgiu, who suffered burns on her chest, breasts and arms, said the biggest challenge had been mental, including ongoing anxiety attacks that had stopped her from going to bars, clubs and other crowded places since.

“The thoughts that filled my mind were suicidal,” she said of her state of the mind in the aftermath of the attack. “Do I want to carry on knowing what’s underneath my bandages?”



Lauren Trent had been celebrating her 22nd birthday at Mangle on the night of the attack. “Forever, my birthday will be the anniversary of the night I was involved in an acid attack,” she sobbed. Turning to Collins in the dock, she added: “From the moment you threw the contents of that bottle you changed not only my life and my best friend’s life, [but] my family, my friends and your life.”



Sophie Hall, also 22, cried as she remembered her experiences of the night. “I knew my face was a mess because I could feel it in my hands,” she said. “It was blistered.” She now hides the facial scars from the incident with makeup, but is unable to mask the scars on her arm and shoulder, she said.



Collins, was told he had demonstrated not the least remorse for his actions, which injured 14 people.



Play Video 0:39 Police release CCTV of Arthur Collins in London nightclub – video

Collins was already serving a six-month sentence, suspended for a year, after punching a man outside a nightclub in Greenwich, an attack that had left the victim needing 20 stitches. The prosecution detailed five previous convictions, dating to 2008, including for public order offences, criminal damage, driving while disqualified and possession of cocaine.

The court also heard that Collins had in 2013 accepted a caution after the mother of his ex-girlfriend complained to police that he had phoned her to call her “a cunt” and threaten her with an acid attack.

In mitigation, George Carter-Stephenson QC produced a thick folder of social media posts made by Giorgiu, Trent and Hall in the months following the attack. Going through each one by one, he pointed to posts and pictures – including several taken from holidays – that, he said, showed their scarring did not amount to serious disfigurement, and that claims of panic attacks in crowded places were overblown.

Asked by the judge whether such a tactic was not unnecessarily invasive, he replied: “One has to be careful that it [the victim impact statement] accurately does reflect the situation. There is no doubt that the three victims this court has heard from have suffered, but it is important that this court has balance.”

The defence also produced a psychological report that it said showed that Collins was an individual of limited intelligence, with a low IQ that bordered on a learning disability.