Victims still dealing with physical and emotional scars after Arthur Collins threw acid on them have called for him to be jailed for life.
Collins was convicted on Monday of temporarily blinding two people and disfiguring 15 others after hurling acid, later found to have a rating of pH1, at the Mangle E8 nightclub in Warburton Road, London Fields, on April 17.
He denied five counts of GBH with intent and nine counts of ABH, but the jury at Wood Green Crown Court convicted him with a majority of 10 to 2.
The 25-year-old, of Broxbourne, admitted throwing a fluid but said he did not know the container held a corrosive substance.
But prosecutors showed he had warned his mother in a text message 10 days earlier to “mind that little hand wash in my car acid”.
Lauren Trent, 22, and Phoebe Georgiou, 23, were celebrating their birthdays that night.
Ms Trent told the Gazette: “When you throw acid on someone it’s a life sentence for them, and it never goes away. Why wouldn’t a life sentence be justifiable, given the impact and injuries he has inflicted?
“Obviously his conviction doesn’t change what has happened and it can’t take that back, but it gave me a sense of relief that no matter how much you pay a lawyer or if you are in the spotlight that you won’t get away with it.”
Once extroverted and active, Miss Georgiou was treated for burns to her chest at a specialist burns unit in Chelmsford, and now suffers night terrors, panic attacks and anxiety in crowded places.
At the time she described how it looked as though her chest “had been ripped apart” and she “could see the inside of her chest and arm”. She told the Gazette yesterday (Wed): “Acid attack victims like myself have to deal with a life sentence of physical and mental scars. The law needs to drastically change to account for that, meaning sentences need to be harsher.
“I have to look in the mirror every day and see the damage he caused. I have to attempt to try and live a normal life outside in the real world, with anxiety and panic attacks haunting me because of that night.
“The pain he has caused me has been life-changing. This weapon is just as damaging as a knife or firearm. The purchase of acid needs to change to decrease these inhumane attacks, and to save innocent people’s lives.”
Collins’ co-defendant, Andre Phoenix, 21, of Clyde Road, Tottenham, was acquitted of four counts of GBH and two of ABH. Collins will sentenced on December 19.
Mangle E8 is working with cops to bring in tighter security, including “more thorough searches, a ban on larger bottles of liquid and tests on smaller bottles of liquid”, town hall crime chief Cllr Caroline Selman said, adding: “I hope the culprit receives the maximum sentence allowed.”
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