to be fascinated with the Arthur Collins case?

[Leilaniii]

Ever since the story broke I have been transfixed. I don't know why. I don't know these people (I live overseas) but something about this case fascinated me.

Anyone else?

If he really was growing cannabis in his house, I can't see how she'd possibly have been ignorant of that.

I suspect she knew about a lot of it and I agree with PP that the media focus on her over the victims is offensive.

Scum. Acid attacks are the lowest of the low. Even worse than knife crime in my opinion, in the ability to throw and run.

I think this guy did it because he’s of limited intelligence and he’s a thug, and I don’t feel particularly sorry for Ferne; she’s a good example of those silly women who go for men like this, but I certainly feel sorry for that baby.

Agree 100%

He’s a violent thug who deserves to be in prison for a very long time.

He is typical of some of the men where I live in East London
Parents worked their way out of poverty (or robbed their way out)
Kids spoiled but used to being around criminality.
The Krays are still bloody heroes round here fgs.

So you get this kid who has had everything they ever wanted but still wants more, under educated, macho and thinks robbing and a bit of violence makes you a man.

What you end up with is vain pretty boys looking for fame and money and believing their grand dad's rose tinted version of the good old days when gangsters were gentlemen who loved their mums and never did no one no harm unless they deserved it.

The bloke is a cowardly craven little tick.

I saw both of the CCTV footages. The one of him outside the club, you can see he has a certain bravado to him. He must have known there was trouble likely that night. People don’t carry bottles of acid around for no reason. You can see footage of him throwing the acid to. He must have seen people reacting and he continued throwing the acid. I really don’t see how he didn’t know exactly what he was doing. I don’t feel an ounce of sympathy for Ferne McCann either. She must have know what he was. She didn’t care a damn until it became public.

Fascinated is an odd choice of words, because it seems quite dispassionate. It's a word you might use when reading about crimes committed generations ago, not a live case. Gobsmacked is the word that came to mind for me. How could he have thought he would get away with it? How could he not have cared about the possible injuries to the bystanders? How could he put his partner and unborn child and family through this?

Possible explanations are that he's not very bright and/or his cognitive faculties have been damaged by years of drug use and/or he has a personality disorder and no empathy and/or after a lifetime of associating with criminals what the rest of us think of us as utterly beyond the pale is normal to him.

I'm pretty sure the little prick still lived with Mummy and Daddy.

I'm interested in the sense that I don't understand why the TOWIE women have relationships with people like this. Gemma Collins, Ferne McCann and Lauren Goodger. The Faiers sisters' stepdad is a bank robber

Hi Derxa waves

Yes and that soap actress Paula Williamson who's marrying locked up for life killler Charles Bronson! I saw her on Loose Women and I've never seen such garbage coming out of her mouth about how wonderful he is, what a gentle man he is, how he's changed. Bollocks. He's the most dangerous prisoner in the UK.

By coincidence, I just googled him and they're marrying today. Stupid girl. She used to write to Ian Brady too, I'd be questioning her MH.

In my youth I went out with bad boys but compared to this lot, they were pussycats!

I'd never heard of these people until the case. I had heard of TOWIE and Made in Chelsea and these sorts of shows but not watched any of them. I actually don't understand why any intelligent people would want to watch programmes about what appear to be vain, empty-headed idiots (based on what I have read) with no discernible talents and I think the glorification of them and the money they get paid and the seemingly huge amount of media attention on their every move is what causes them to think they are untouchable and can do what the fuck they like. It's not dissimilar to the attitude of certain footballers who get paid shed loads of money and are fawned over by wannabe WAGs who all look alike. They behave that way because they are pretty much encouraged to do so by being feted in the media and by people buying into the hero worship and the celebrity magazine culture.

I hate the whole I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here thing but at least when it started it included people you'd heard of. I gather one of the "celebrities" this year is the wife of a footballer who has no talent of her own (ie, isn't a popstar, isn't an actress). We get the culture we deserve.

I hope he gets the maximum sentence. I'd like to see the victims suing him for compensation too, if that were possible.

I really don't understand the fascination or being transfixed. But then I don't get the fascination with programmes like that Essex thing either. It's just all so fake and mundane.

But anyway, from news reporting yesterday he was a violent little thug who has injured several people with his idiotic and stupid actions, then protested his innocence all the way through the trial.

He deserves a very long sentence.

Yes and that soap actress Paula Williamson who's marrying locked up for life killler Charles Bronson

I thought of her when I was reading this thread too.

What a gullible fool she is.

I watched TOWIE once. I felt I ought to, to be able to express an opinion. My face was like the whole way through. Ugly women with trowelled on make up and they all sounded as thick as pig shit and I have no idea what the hell they were actually talking about.

Talk about dumbing down, I despair hoiks bosom right up to under chin, no mean feat

Oh and all this "glamorous women and gangsters" thing is nothing new - people like Barbara Windsor who would most definitely have been a star of her own reality show in the 60s was linked with organised criminals too. In some sectors of society there's a glamour to it. Women are seduced by the flash cars, tacky jewellery and wads of tenners and choose not to ask where it all comes from. Or not care.

No sympathy for the girlfriend in this case at all.

That's a bit unfair, Roussette. It's not anyone's fault if they are lacking in education and have a low IQ. Why sneer at them?

A lot ofnthe TOWIE lot actually had superb education. They choose to act dumb, which is worse in my opinion.

Leilaniii Because shows like that are encouraging young people to think they can get on in life by behaving like that. The whole "famous for being famous" culture. It's not healthy, like the constant selfie and body shaming that goes on. There are huge numbers of young women who basically think they have to trowel on make up and get fake tits and botox done to be successful.

Hi Roussette

Shatners
I actually don't understand why any intelligent people would want to watch programmes about what appear to be vain, empty-headed idiots
I think people want to know about others who live a completely different life to their own. My life is tangentially opposite to the TOWIE lot. Surely this is why people read novels, biographies and watch films and documentaries. To experience another existence in a small way.

youre facinated by a man who threw acid on some poor woman? Why?

Not transfixed by the case at all. From what I’ve read, he got into an argument with a group of men and threw acid at them, spraying onto others as he did it. Man is a thug.

I don’t know what’s fascinating about the case in the slightest.

Unfair or not, the dumbing down of just about everything really gets to me. More importantly, the message these airheads give out to young girls is wrong wrong wrong. Luckily my DCs escaped all this nonsense.

Totally agree. I hate how cool it is for women to be thick and look like plastic dolls.

Rousette Totally agree.

The BBC is choosing not to screen their multi-million pound three-part Agatha Christie this Christmas (which, in effect, we've all paid for) because one of the actors in it has been accused of sexual assault - which he denies and has yet to be interviewed, arrested and charged over.

Ridley Scott is reshooting scenes from his new film to replace Kevin Spacey. Netflix is cancelling House of Cards because of Spacey. Lots of other programmes and films are being cancelled or won't be screened because of actors' behaviour.

Why can't we do the same with these "reality" shows? One of its stars is going down for years for an acid attack. Scrap the show. Send that message too.

Carrying acid is the new knife isn't it? He is a total thug he probably couldn't give a toss about his trophy girlfriend I am not sure what is fascinating about him though.

I don’t feel sorry for him, nor for Ferne, I just feel sorry for his victims. He’s vile and not interesting enough to be “fascinating”.