The parents of jailed acid attacker Arthur Collins have appeared in court after a cannabis factory was allegedly found at their home.

Police are said to have discovered 30 plants, along with hydroponics and growing equipment in an outbuilding while searching for Collins, 25, on April 17 last year in the hours after he hurled the corrosive liquid across a crowded dancefloor in an east London nightclub.

Arthur Collins junior is serving a 20-year prison sentence for the acid attack, which left 16 people with chemical burns and three people temporarily blinded (Metropolitan Police/PA)
Arthur Collins junior is serving a 20-year prison sentence for the attack (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Prosecutors say the potential yield from the crop found in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, could have been between £9,000 and £25,000.

Collins’ 55-year-old father, who is also called Arthur, and mother Jackie, 53, appeared at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday alongside their other son, Thomas, 22.

Officers allegedly found CS spray and a taser, along with 68.1g of cannabis in his bedroom during the search.

The family spoke only to confirm their names, dates of births, addresses and that they were British during a brief hearing.

Arthur Collins senior, who was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and black trousers, and Mrs Collins, dressed in a navy blue skirt and blazer, each face a charge of allowing the production of cannabis, a Class B drug.

Their son, Thomas, who was wearing grey tracksuit bottoms and a black T-shirt, is charged with possessing cannabis and two weapons.

Each of the three defendants made no indication of the pleas they intend to enter.

Magistrates declined jurisdiction, sending the case to St Albans Crown Court for a hearing on June 8.

All three of the Collins’s were granted unconditional bail.

  • Five counts of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm
  • Nine counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm

Arthur Collins junior, who has a baby daughter, Sunday, with his former Towie star ex-girlfriend Ferne McCann is serving a 20-year prison sentence over the April 17 2017 acid attack, which left 16 people with chemical burns and three people temporarily blinded.

He was found guilty of five counts of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and nine charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after a trial.

He was handed another eight-month sentence earlier this year for using a smuggled mobile phone in his prison cell.

Collins said he used the device to call then pregnant Ms McCann while awaiting trial.