Strictly’s Katie Piper’s acid attacker is released from prison

"Even when you think things can never move forward and you feel so low, there's always a way out."

Katie had to wait more than an hour in agony before ambulance crews were given the all-clear to treat her, because they didn’t know what the substance was and whether there was a risk of her attacker being nearby.Chillingly, she said: “They zipped me up in a protective suit and I thought it must be a body bag and that I was dead and looking in on the scene around me. “All I could hear were voices and I figured I must be in Heaven.”

In May, at Wood Green Crown Court, North London, Lynch  and his accomplice Sylvestre were jailed for life.Judge Nicholas Browne QC told them: "[The victim] had a face of pure beauty. You, Danny Lynch and Stefan Sylvestre, represent the face of pure evil."The facts of this case are chilling and shocking."You planned and then executed an act of pure, calculated and deliberate evil."You decided to wreck the victim's life by thrusting a full container of sulphuric acid straight into her face from point blank range." [Stock image]

Katie was born on the 12th October 1983 in Andover, Hampshire. After leaving school, she trained as a beautician, aiming to follow in the footsteps of her father, who worked as a barber.

The beautiful blonde quickly forged a name as a model and digital television presenter, and she also began working as a promotional model at live events. It was through her work as a ring-girl that Piper became known within the MMA (mixed martial arts) community - and caught the eye of Daniel Lynch.

Daniel Lynch began tracking Katie’s career online and, in 2008, the pair met in person and began dating. “We liked each other and we had fun,” she said later. “He told me on our second date that he loved me. His arm was always around me and even when we were in the car and stopped at traffic lights, he would turn and kiss me.”But, unbeknownst to Katie, Daniel had a dark side.Just two weeks into their relationship, Daniel took Katie out for a romantic dinner in Bayswater, before taking her back to a hotel. It was there that he raped and beat her, threatened to cut her with a razor and hang her, and stabbed her several times in the arms.After eight nightmarish hours, he drove Katie back to her flat in Golder’s Green and she checked herself into the Royal Free Hospital, where she was treated for her wounds.She didn’t tell doctors or police how she had obtained her wounds, as she was afraid of what would happen if she did.

Following the hotel room attack, Daniel began texting and calling Katie in a  desperate bid to apologise. On 31st March 2008, two days after the rape, Lynch persuaded Katie to go to an internet cafe to read an email he had sent to her.As Katie made her way there, she was approached by a man with a hoodie pulled around his face. Thinking he wanted money, she reached for her purse - and, as she did so, Stefan Sylvestre (whom had been given Katie’s details by Lynch) threw sulphuric acid into her face.She said: “I saw a man in a hooded top walking towards me. He was carrying a cup. I assumed he was a beggar so I reached into my bag for  some change. He came up close, like he was going to speak, and threw liquid from the cup at my face.“The pain was indescribable, but for a split second I remember thinking, ‘How rude to throw coffee when I was trying to help him.’ I could feel my skin and clothes burning off me.”The attack was caught on CCTV, and both Lynch and Sylvestre were later arrested.

The acid had blinded Katie in one eye, and the aspiring model also lost most of her nose and part of one ear. Her burns were so severe that the skin from her face had to be cut away, and Katie was put into an induced coma for 12 days. Speaking about the moment she saw her face for the first time, Katie said: “When I held the mirror up I thought someone had given me a broken one or put a silly face on it as a joke.“I knew that they’d taken my face away and that it was put somewhere in a bin in the hospital, but in my head I assumed I’d look like the old Katie, just with a few red blotches.“I was so embarrassed that people had seen me like this. I wanted to tear the whole thing off and make it go away. There was nothing about me that I recognised. My identity as I knew it had gone.” Afterwards, able to communicate only in writing, she gave her parents a note that said: ‘Kill me.’

Katie spent seven weeks in hospital and had to wear a plastic pressure mask for 23 hours a day for the next two years.She returned home to live with her family - and has admitted that she found things hard to deal with at first.Speaking on Channel 4’s My Beautiful Face, she said: “I remember one time I was sat in my bedroom painting my toenails - because I still painted my toenails! - I had a little vanity box that I kept all my polishes in, and it had a tiny little mirror on the lid. “And I had it on the floor, and I was sat on the floor painting my toenails, and out of the corner of my eye I saw this dreadful thing in my mirror. This big, red, shiny monster, all contorted, and I thought 'Oh my Goodness, what on earth is that?' “And I realised it was my reflection, and I just sat there and cried for an hour. I remember thinking 'If my reflection shocks me, how will other people feel?’”

Just over a year after the attack, Katie made the decision to give up her anonymity and share her story in a remarkable film for Channel 4 called ‘Katie: My Beautiful Face’. It was watched by over 3.5million viewers and nominated for Best Single Documentary at the BAFTA Television Awards in 2010.

Katie spent five three-week blocks in a specialist scar treatment clinic, Centre Ster in France. There, she received non-surgical treatment which helped her scars become soft, supple and pale. Her skin grew more flexible and her face began to feel like her own again. And, perhaps more importantly, she was able to spend time in a supportive environment, surrounded by others going through a similar experience to her.Speaking about her time there, she said: “The results were amazing. My skin looked paler and smoother and more like normal skin.“Psychologically it gave me my confidence back, too. I never thought I'd wear a bikini again, but I was with other people like me who were disfigured and I didn't feel out of place. “I felt normal. For the first time in months I didn't feel embarrassed.”Slowly, Katie’s battered self-confidence and self-belief started to come back as she learnt to accept that her burns didn’t have to define her.

“I love life. I'm really happy to be alive, I'm grateful to have a great family, and to live in a country that has the NHS - I've had all this treatment on the NHS. Medical treatment is fantastic, the things they can do these days are amazing. “To be melted and rebuilt is quite phenomenal, really. I feel positive about my life. I want to go on and get married and have children. I want a normal life.”

In 2009 - with a little help from patron Simon Cowell - Katie Piper went on to set up her own charity, The Katie Piper Foundation. The charity’s vision is a world where scars do not limit a person’s function, social inclusion or sense of well-being. Speaking at the time, she said: “What happened to me made me a different but a better person and I have a role to play in helping others. If I can do that, the suffering my family and I have been through won't have been in vain.”The foundation offers hair transplants, Pilates, nutritionist help, camouflage make-up workshops, laser treatment and a peer support network.

On 25 December 2009, Katie Piper read out the 'Alternative Christmas Message 2009' on Channel 4.She said: “My life was very self-absorbed and self-obsessed. It took a tragedy for me to reassess my life, and how I felt, and what I thought was important.“Don’t wait until there’s tragedy in your life. Don’t wait until you lose somebody. Don’t wait until it’s too late.“Appreciate the beautiful things and the beautiful people you have in your life now.”You can watch it here.

In 2010, Katie Piper released an inspiration autobiography, which allowed her to tell her moving story in her own words. In it, she made sure to pay tribute to her mum, her dad, her family, friends, and Mr Jawad, her surgeon.She said: “My mum Diane, dad David, brother Paul and sister Suzy have been a tower of strength. It’s been a pretty traumatic time for them.“When I interviewed my mum for the book, I realised when she first saw me, I was in a coma, with the skin of corpses draped all over my face to regenerate? skin growth. I never saw myself at my worst. Mum and Dad did. It was horrible for them.“My surgeon, Mohammed Ali Jawad, has become like my second dad. He is an eternal optimist and he has dragged me up time and time again.“All the doctors and nurses, who have treated me over the last four years, have been incredible. I owe them so much.”You can buy it on Amazon for £6.29.

Katie Piper went on to appear in a number of television shows for Channel 4, including the heartwarming Katie: My Beautiful Friends, which saw her meet with people who had been disfigured, disabled, or physically altered as a result of illness, injury, accident, or surgery. She also went on to make Katie: The Science Of Seeing Again, which followed her as she prepared to undergo stem cell surgery in a  bid to restore sight to her damaged left eye. During the one-off episode, Katie revealed she had undergone 109 medical operations in the four years since the acid attack, with the eye operation being her 110th.

Writing in her autobiography, Katie Piper revealed she had a date with a banker called Ryan - and he left her stranded.Speaking openly about the incident, she said: "Despite all my make-up, my scars were on full view, as if they’d been put under a microscope. “The minute his eyes landed on me it became painfully awkward: I wasn’t what he was expecting. His mouth hung open, he was visibly shocked and couldn’t do anything to hide it. I was dying inside.She added that when they sat down to eat, he claimed he had seen some work colleagues so went to say hi, but never returned."Humiliation and nausea washed over me. My lip started to go and I bit it to stop the tears. I didn’t want to cry but the more I tried not to, the more tears pricked my eyes."My voice wobbled when I asked for the bill, my hands shook as I paid. The coward hadn’t had the decency to leave money with the waiter."

Katie was set up on a date with a carpenter named Richard James Sutton, who was - unlike other men she’d dated - completely at ease with her scars.Writing in her new book, Beautiful Ever After, Katie said: "I was used to stilted silences and awkward stares."But James was chatty, witty and looked me squarely in the eye. He never once mentioned my burns, and because he didn’t, I didn’t either."She went on to recall a time where she had developed a temporary hole in her nose from a surgical procedure."I was horrified, desperate to stop James coming round that evening but he was having none of it," she said."[He said] 'I don’t care, let them stare, we’re going out to buy ice cream. They’re free to stare and we’re free to ignore them. It’s a free country and that’s that, OK?’"She added: "It  was what I’d longed to hear for years. The moment I never thought would come."Finally, someone who was proud to be with me and didn’t care what other people thought."

In 2014, Katie launched Bodyshockers, a docuseries which saw her look at cosmetic and surgical procedures, and give advice to those looking to restore a more natural look having previously undergone treatments they now regret. It has proved hugely popular - and a third series was recently commissioned.

In September 2013, Katie announced that she was expecting her first child with her partner.She said on Twitter: "You've all supported me through bad times so I wanted to share some good news with you. I'm thrilled to say I'm expecting my first child! :)"Katie added to The Mirror: "I've always known that I have wanted children but there were moments after what happened to me that I never thought this would happen, I never believed this would be my future. "It's beyond incredible.”

Katie Piper happily announced the birth of her daughter, Belle Elizabeth, in March 2014.Taking to Twitter, she wrote: "I am delighted to tell you that our daughter Belle Elizabeth was born today! Overwhelmed with happiness. We can't wait to get to know her!"Katie, who gave birth by Caesarean, later added to Hello!: "I am so overwhelmed with happiness. I literally can't stop looking at her, she's just beautiful. After all the operations I've had, this one has given me my daughter - it's just the most special feeling in the world."

In October 2014, Katie Piper was made an honorary doctor of health sciences at Anglia Ruskin University.Professor Michael Thorne, vice chancellor at Chelmsford's university, said: “Our honorary degree holders are chosen carefully and are also a source of great pride."These are people at the very top of their respective fields who will be excellent role models for our existing students.”Speaking about the decision, an emotional Katie tweeted: "Thank you! It's an absolute honour and a privilege."

In December 2014, Katie took to Twitter to reveal that she and her long-term fella were engaged.She wrote: "So excited to tell you all.............. I became someone's fiancé last night! I'm engaged to be married :) [sic]."

Katie Piper is officially a married woman after she and partner Richard Sutton pledged their life-long commitment to one another in a beautiful ceremony on 6th November 2015. She announced the news on Twitter, writing: ‘What an amazing Friday yesterday was - I got married!’ Congratulations to the happy couple.