New agony for Katie Piper as decision to free stalker who ordered devastating acid attack on the model could be made next month

Katie Piper could face fresh agony with a decision to release the stalker who ordered a devastating acid attack on the model set to be made next month.

Parole chiefs will spend two days deliberating over whether Daniel Lynch should be freed just 15 years into a life sentence.

The obsessive rapist will face questions from bosses on July 23 and 24 where they will decide whether he will pose a risk if released.

The 47-year-old was handed the jail time in 2009 after he was found guilty of rape, GBH and admitting ABH, following a brutal acid attack on his ex-partner which left her face heavily burned.

The Loose Women star was just 24 when Stefan Sylvestre, then 19, threw the substance in an assault planned by Lynch.

Sylvestre, who was given a life sentence with a minimum of six years after admitting GBH, was released in 2018 but was recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions. Police have since said they believe he has fled the country.

Parole bosses are likely to assess the progress Lynch has made while behind bars, as well as his relationships with fellow inmates and staff members. They will also look at any behavioural or anger problems during his term.

Former Met detective Peter Bleksley told The Express: 'There is absolutely no justice for the poor victim in this case.

'The man who organised this and caused her so much harm and distress could be out soon and the man who carried it out could be anywhere.

'It is a very distressing case and my heart goes out to her.'

Mr Bleksley also claimed that people in the criminal underworld would be aware of Sylvestre's hiding place and urged bosses to up their efforts into finding him.

The horrendous attack in March 2008 was preceded by the mum-of-two being brutally raped by Lynch in a hotel room when she tried to leave their two-week-old relationship.

The steroid-fuelled martial arts expert then obsessively stalked Ms Piper before ordering Sylvestre to throw sulphuric acid on her face, leaving her with severe burns and in need of 400 operations.

Ms Piper has since spoken out about the prospect of the man behind the attack being released and has been open about the effect the vile attack has had on her life, waiving her automatic right to anonymity as a survivor of rape in 2009. 

Passing sentence against the pair, Judge Nicholas Browne QC said: '(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.'

Ms Piper was attacked in Golders Green, north London in 2008.

She had dated Lynch briefly before steroid-fuelled martial arts fan Lynch, who had a previous conviction for pouring boiling water over a man, became obsessively jealous.

The model and TV presenter had to wear a mask after the attack and needed 400 operations to treat her severe burns in a long and painstaking process which included pioneering surgery which completely removed the damaged skin from her face and replaced it with a substitute.

The Loose Women panellist explained how NHS surgeons rebuilt her face 'from a cow' with the use of 'pioneering' skin graft.

Speaking to Lorraine Kelly and her daughter, Rosie, on their What if? Podcast, she said: 'My burn went through the muscle and down to the skeleton, so it was a very, very deep burn.

'Because it's a corrosive substance, you think with fire you can put it out and maybe minimise the damage, but with me all four layers of the skin were destroyed.

'This foundation is made from collagen and elastin taken from a cow. Queue all the moody cow jokes! My face is made out of a cow,' she laughed.

Going into detail she explained: 'What I had to do was have all of my old face removed because the tissue was dead and would have gotten infected.'

She then detailed how her entire face was reconstructed using other parts of her body as doctors took a large skin graft from her mid back to her bottom.

In July 2019, 12 years after the attack, she had further surgery to cauterize the blood vessels in her left eye. She was again taken to hospital for emergency surgery in August this year after she was left in 'extreme pain' and her husband Richard Sutton noticed a black spot in her eye.

In her heart-rending victim impact statement in the aftermath of the attack, Ms Piper said: 'When the acid was thrown at me, it felt like I was burning in hell. It was an indescribable, unique, torturous pain.

'I have lost my future, my career, my spirit, my body, my looks, my dignity – the list goes on.

'All I am left with is an empty shell. A part of me has died that will never come back. This is worse than death.'

Since the ordeal Ms Piper has rebuilt her life, featuring on numerous TV shows, including a 2009 documentary about the impact of the attack.

She chose to give up her anonymity in order to increase awareness about burn victims through the Channel 4 documentary Katie: My Beautiful Face, which gained more than 3.3 million views.

She also took part in the hit BBC show Strictly Come Dancing in 2018.

Ms Piper revealed that she was subjected to callous abuse during her time on the show.

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, she said: 'I got some really horrible abuse, it was awful. I was told 'You look like a monster' by someone one night. It's so cruel. Then someone else said, 'Thank goodness for make-up.'

The mother-of-two said another mocked the fact she is 75 per cent blind in one eye. 'Someone said to me, 'Are you sure you're not blind in both eyes, not just one? Because you definitely dance like you are.'

'These people seem to forget I'm a human. I just wanted to scream back, 'I know I can't dance!' '

While she found the attacks distressing, the 35-year-old said she enjoyed her time on the show and added: 'I am just so glad to be alive.'

In 2009, when she was still in the early stages of recovery, she launched the Katie Piper Foundation to raise awareness for other victims of burns and other disfigurement attacks and injuries.

The charity also campaigns for the specialist treatment Piper received, such as the after-care scheme undertaken in France, to be more widely available to patients in Britain.

In 2022 she was awarded an OBE for charity and burns services in the New Year Honours.