Fury as Ferne McCann’s ex Arthur Collins has comfortable jail life after horror acid assault

Ferne McCann’s disgraced ex-boyfriend, Arthur Collins, is living a life of luxury behind bars after a horror acid attack which left 16 people with chemical burns. Collins, 33, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for the vile attack, but it seems he is living it up in a cushy jail already.

Arthur Collins, the ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann, injured 22 people when he threw the corrosive substance in Mangle E8 in April 2017. The then-25-year-old admitted throwing the liquid at the Dalston club but claimed he believed it was a date rape drug.

He was sentenced to 20 years behind bars, but appealed his sentence in 2018. Three judges at the Court of Appeal in London rejected his bid for a sentence and he was ordered to serve the whole term.

But now insiders have lifted the lid on his ability to “land on his feet”, saying he has a nice roomy cell, and a host of luxuries others do not get – despite repeated bad behaviour behind bars.

A prison insider said: “You get this sometimes. Just people who have done some truly awful things that just seem to land on their feet behind bars.

“It isn’t like he has been a model prisoner and is being rewarded for good behaviour. This is a man who is known to do what he wants behind bars.”

Collins previously received an eight-month sentence extension in 2018 for smuggling a phone into the prison, with reports made that he was contacting former Love Island contestant Amelia Peters and sending her flowers.

There was also an investigation into Collins’ suspected plot to smuggle drugs into Category C HMP The Mount using drones.

Now he is locked up in another Category C jail – HMP Aylesbury, and enjoying all the spoils it has to offer – despite a number of warnings against his name.

The insider continued: “He is on a huge sentence and for a horrific crime. It’s unbelievable that he is already in a cushty category C prison with so long left to serve. That normally takes years to get to.

“And there is so much on offer at Aylesbury in terms of art and cooking courses, state of the art gyms and barbering and gardening workshops. He is very lucky to be there.”

As well as being down as a domestic abuser, he is also said to be under an Enhanced prisoner level. That means he has reached the highest tier of the Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) scheme and is allowed to wear his own clothes, is entitled to more and longer family and friend visits and is permitted to have a television inside their cell and potentially higher-level rewards like games consoles.

The insider continued: “As an Enhanced level prisoner as well, he gets 33 quid per week for canteen spends, extra visits and extra gym. Staff don’t trust him though – he is crafty.

“After a Category C prison, the next step is open prison, but hopefully he is nowhere near that. On his alerts he is listed as violent and a domestic violence perpetrator, and obviously a chemical attacker. Not the sort of bloke that should be in a category C living it up.”