Katie Piper was left fighting for her life after her evil ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch ordered for her to be doused in acid in a horrific attack – and he could soon walk free
Katie Piper once admitted that part of her “died” during her acid attack – and now the evil ex who orchestrated the sick assault is making a bid for freedom.
Daniel Lynch, who ordered a thug to throw sulphuric acid in the model’s face, will appear before a parole board this week. For Katie, now 42, the news has reignited the “life sentence” of terror, as she admits she lives in fear that the man who left her “burning in hell” could return to kill her.
From the moment she met vile Lynch, to begging her mother to end her life after waking up from a coma, we’ve taken a look at the harrowing reality behind Katie’s most difficult week yet.
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Lynch was jailed for life back in 2008, with a minimum of just 16 years, after ordering the attack on Katie, 24, which caused her to lose her eyesight in one eye and suffer horrific burns.
Since then, Katie has endured hundreds of surgeries, and has talked openly about how she still fears for her life – prompting her to campaign for longer sentences for offenders who enact violence against women.
Lynch, from Shepherd’s Bush, is reportedly due to appear before the parole board this week, while Stefan Sylvestre, who carried out the attack has already been released.
After being released on licence in 2018. Sylvestre is believed to have fled the UK after breaking the terms of his release, prompting a recall to prison.
Sylvestre being set free was “really difficult” for Katie, but the parole board were convinced that he had been rehabilitated sufficiently to regain his freedom. Officials claimed he “displayed empathy for the victim and expressed remorse and shame for his actions”.
When Katie was attacked in 2008, she was working as a model, and had the world at her feet.
She had connected with Lynch over Facebook, who had been following her career from a distance, seemingly becoming ever more obsessed with her. At first, things seemed normal, even good, with Lynch. They first met up in Reading face to face, she revealed in her landmark 2009 documentary, ‘My Beautiful Face’.
But after only a fortnight, things to a horrifying turn, as Lynch’s possessive and abusive behaviour reared its head.
At a hotel, Lynch raped and tortured Katie for eight hours, where he stabbed her in the arm and threatened to kill her.
After eventually making it back to the flat with some friends, Katie was so terrified that she couldn’t face telling doctors what happened.
Obsessive Lynch continued to bombard her with messages after this, claiming he wanted to reconcile – but actually he had a sick plan.
Just two days later, he persuaded Katie to visit an internet cafe near her home, to read one of his manipulative missives that he had sent.
Sylvestre, then 19, was lying in wait, having been briefed on what Katie looked like, ready to launch the horrific attack.
When he first approached Katie, she had no idea what was about to happen: presuming perhaps he needed money or some help.
But he then threw sulphuric acid directly onto her face, an act which Katie described as “worse than death” in her victim impact statement.
“When the acid was thrown at me, it felt like I was burning in hell. It was an indescribable, unique, torturous pain,” she said.
After being rushed to hospital Katie was put into an induced coma for 12 days.
In her book, ‘Still Beautiful’, she describes the horrific ordeal she faced in hospital, writing: “What was left of my face after the acid had melted away my features was removed and unceremoniously dumped in a medical waste bin.”
All the skin from her face had to be taken away by the surgeons, not only had Katie been left with full thickness and partial thickness burns across her face, and blindness in one eye – she had even inadvertently swallowed some of the acid during the attack.
When she woke up, she could not speak, and could only make herself known to her loved ones by writing. Desperate for the agony to end, she wrote: “Kill me” and handed the note to her mother, as the reality of the attack and the life-changing injuries she had been left with set in, reports the Belfast Telegraph.
She had only a skin substitute covering her face, as the doctors hoped to make it possible for her later to receive a skin graft, and she had to wear a plastic mask 23 hours a day to try and retain moisture, for a long time.
Katie’s life was completely changed in just moments, “I was a fun person. I had lots of friends. If I went somewhere and people met me for the first time they would say ‘Oh, you’re really pretty’ and I would think ‘Yeah, I am’,” she said in her documentary in 2009. She was forced to rebuild everything – and has achieved everything she dreamed of back then, whilst in the throes of recovery.
“I think I’ve got the chance to build a life,” she said in 2009. “I don’t it’s going to be that easy, but I wanna try. I want to move on from my attack, and I don’t want to be a scared little child. I want to blossom into a confident, able woman.”
She added, “My dream would be just to live a normal life and after all this be able to meet somebody again and learn to trust a guy and the normal dream: a girl wants to get married and have kids.”
Happily since then Katie has married and has two children. From hosting inspirational TV series, writing books, and helping open people’s eyes to what beauty really means, she has had a massive impact.
But that does not mean someone who has gone through trauma like this will be immune to worrying about the possibility of Lynch getting parole, an expert tells the Mirror, no matter how resilient Katie is as a person. Dr Charlotte Proudman – a barrister and academic who specialises in women’s rights – tells the Mirror: “Parole hearings in cases of extreme violence such as acid attacks can be profoundly re-traumatising for survivors because they force victims to relive the most devastating moment of their lives, often many years later.
“For someone like Katie Piper, the physical and psychological consequences of that attack are lifelong, yet the justice process requires survivors to confront the possibility of the perpetrator’s release. While the parole system exists to assess risk and rehabilitation, cases like this raise serious questions about whether sentences for crimes involving life-altering violence truly reflect the enduring impact on victims and their families.”
In 2017, Katie wrote a devastating open letter about the life-long impact of an acid attack, as she argued that sentences should be tougher for perpetrators. “I couldn’t recognise myself when I woke up from a coma and I wanted to commit suicide,” she wrote.
“For acid attack survivors, the aftermath is a life sentence.” Katie continued, adding: “Survivors of such attacks often have to live with the immediate fear that their attackers may still be at large, and in the longer term—even if the attackers are caught and sentenced—may be released to potentially live alongside them after serving a minimum term.
“I meet many inspiring individuals who have worked hard to rebuild their lives after an attack; however, it can be hard to stay motivated when the justice system does not always reflect the severity of these crimes.”
In 2023, Katie told the Mail that she fears for her life when considering the possibility that Lynch could walk free. “I’m 40 this year. Am I going to die in the next 10 years?
“I don’t actually know. The people that attacked me will be released. Are they going to kill me? I’m not sure.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
