Arthur Collins, the disgraced ex-boyfriend of reality TV star Ferne McCann, is reportedly living a life of luxury behind bars, despite being 20 years into a prison sentence for a horrific acid attack that injured 22 people.
Collins, 33, threw a corrosive substance at Mangle E8 in Dalston in April 2017, when he was 25. He admitted throwing the liquid but claimed he believed it was a date rape drug. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and an appeal against the sentence was rejected by three judges at the Court of Appeal in London in 2018, who ordered him to serve the full term.
Insiders reveal prison privileges
Now, prison insiders have claimed that Collins has a "nice roomy cell" and a host of luxuries that other inmates do not get, despite repeated bad behaviour behind bars. One 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 prison, with reports that he was contacting former Love Island contestant Amelia Peters and sending her flowers. There was also an investigation into a suspected plot to smuggle drugs into HMP The Mount using drones.
Enhanced prisoner status
Now locked up in HMP Aylesbury, a Category C prison, Collins is reportedly enjoying 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 recorded as a domestic abuser, Collins is said to be under an Enhanced prisoner level, the highest tier of the Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) scheme. This allows him to wear his own clothes, have more and longer family and friend visits, and have a television inside his cell, potentially with higher-level rewards like games consoles.
The insider added: "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."
