London nightclub acid attack: Man gets 20 years' jail for crime that injured Australians
Posted
A man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for throwing acid on people during a fight inside a nightclub in east London.
Arthur Collins, 25, was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm at the Mangle club in Dalston in April this year.
During sentencing at Wood Green Crown Court, the judge described the crime as a "despicable act" and said Collins knew exactly what he was doing.
Judge Noel Lucas said Collins had not shown the slightest remorse.
Collins was sentenced to another five years on licence, which means serving a prison sentence under supervision in the community.
Australian sisters Isobella and Prue Fraser were injured in the attack.
Prue described the attack to the ABC shortly after the incident.
"My friend said, 'Come over here, I think a fight is going to break out'. As he said that I was thrown on my stomach over a little barrier at the bar," she told the ABC.
"I felt a pain in my arm just above my hand, like I've never felt before in my life.
"It was like a burn or a cut. I just didn't know what it was. I didn't feel anything splash my arm, it just happened so quickly."
Twenty-two people were injured in the attack, with 16 suffering serious burns.
Isobella said part of a man's face was "melted off" by the acid.
"The guy that actually got half his face melted off, he ran into me and I thought he spilled his drink on my back but then I could smell this really strong gas smell and I couldn't breathe and I was coughing," she said.
Police said the problem at the nightclub started with a dispute between two groups of people that escalated when a male suspect sprayed a "noxious substance" directly at two men.
"My sister's top was stuck to her back, I've never seen anything like it. When she took her T-shirt off, bits were stuck to her skin," Prue said.
There has been a spate of similar attacks in London.
Topics: courts-and-trials, prisons-and-punishment, law-crime-and-justice, england, united-kingdom
