Criminal who tried to rob Arsenal stars goes partially blind after brutal attack in prison

A criminal, who was among two thugs that attempted to steal from Arsenal players, has lost one of his eyes after a brutal attack in prison where he is serving a six-year sentence.

A criminal, who attempted to rob former Arsenal stars Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac, has gone partially blind following an attack while in prison.

In July 2019, Arsenal stars Ozil and Kolasinac sent shockwaves around the world when footage of them fighting criminals, who attacked them in London surfaced online.

The footballers had been pursued by two thugs, who attempted to rob them luxury watches worth £200,000, with Kolasinac coming out to fight them as Ozil protected his wife inside a Mercedes G-Wagon that the Premier League stars were travelling in.

Among the two criminals was now 34-year-old Ashley Smith, who was initially jailed for 10 years in November 2019 before his term was reduced to six years on appeal, and during his time in prison, he was the victim of a brutal attack that has now left him partially blind.

According to The Sun, Smith was attacked in his HMP Pentonville cell in a revenge attack after one of the inmates had a go at him thinking he was the one who attacked a relative in Islington, London.

It is claimed that Smith was attacked for warning his co-defendant that he was a marked man before coming to the prison although he has said he was not involved.

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“It weren't me though. I swear to God. I can't see,” said Smith, who was armed with a knitting needle during the attack on the Arsenal players.

“He was beating me up basically saying I robbed someone’s mum. I was like bruv, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

“The yout got me good, still. Savaged me, recorded it. I didn't even know it got recorded. I’ve gone to hospital, come out of the cells, collapsed, told the screws I’ve fallen out the bed,” said the criminal, who has now lost the use of his left eye following the prison attack.

“My eye. The yout took my eye but it’s life man. I just think, you know, all the skullduggery that I’ve done and got away with has caught up to me now,” he added.

“On the video you can’t see his face. He’s back on the road. I wish him the best of luck. It is what it is. It’s life, man. I thank god I’ve still got my other eye. I cried. I broke down. I lost my eye. A yout took my eye for something that I didn’t do.

“Like my nan would have said, what goes around comes around and you can’t cry when you’re out robbing. When you’re out robbing and s*** goes wrong, there’s consequences,” said Smith, who had been on a 42-month sentence for a burglary in 2017 when he tried to rob Ozil and Kolasinac.

Smith’s co-criminal Jordan Northove was sentenced to 18 years in prison following the attack on the Arsenal stars after both admitted attempted robbery at Harrow Crown Court.