Man behind acid attack on TV presenter Katie Piper up for parole

Daniel Lynch, a martial arts expert who is a former boyfriend of Piper, was convicted five years ago of arranging for Stefan Sylvestre to throw the corrosive liquid at the former model in March 2008, leaving her blind in one eye.

Lynch was jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years in May 2009 at London’s Wood Green Crown Court for the rape of Piper and for telling Sylvestre to throw acid on her.

Sylvestre was given a life sentence, with a minimum term of six years, in 2009 and released on licence in 2018.

In 2022, he was recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions, with police issuing an arrest warrant after it was thought he had left the UK.

A spokeswoman for the Parole Board confirmed on Sunday that there will be a private hearing for Lynch on July 23 and 24.

A parole hearing is granted when there is a “realistic prospect” of release, or to consider a move to an open prison, in the case of fairness or because they need more information from the person convicted.

Victims can send in personal statements and the decision can be challenged.

Lynch, who had a previous conviction for pouring boiling water over a man, was said to have become obsessively jealous after briefly dating Piper before the steroid-fuelled attack.

He and Sylvestre were told by Judge Nicholas Browne QC they “planned and then executed an act of pure, calculated and deliberate evil”.

Following the trial, Piper, now 40, waived her right to anonymity as a rape victim, and her recovery featured in a Channel 4 documentary.

She went on to found the Katie Piper Foundation to support burns victims.

Piper, who has undergone more than 250 operations over the past decade, hosts a podcast, Katie Piper’s Extraordinary People, is a panellist on Loose Women and presents Katie Piper’s Breakfast Show, both on ITV.