The man who arranged for the model and TV presenter Katie Piper to be attacked with acid could be eligible for parole next month.
Daniel Lynch, a former boyfriend of Piper, was convicted five years ago of arranging for Stefan Sylvestre to throw sulphuric acid at her face 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 spokesperson for the Parole Board confirmed on Sunday that there will be a private hearing for Lynch on 23 and 24 July.
A parole hearing is granted when there is a “realistic prospect” of release, or to consider a move to an open prison. 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 attack, which left Piper with serious injuries and permanent scarring and she has had hundreds of surgeries to repair damage to her face and eyesight.
He and Sylvestre were told by Judge Nicholas Browne KC that they had “planned and then executed an act of pure, calculated and deliberate evil”.
After the trial, Piper, now 40, waived her right to anonymity as a rape victim, and her recovery was featured in a Channel 4 documentary. She went on to found the Katie Piper Foundation to support burns victims.
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In her victim impact statement, 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.”