[Tom4784]

Model and campaigner Katie Piper has said she is "trying to come to terms with the decision" to release her acid attacker after nine years in jail.

"This is a really difficult time for me," she told fans, saying it was "something I need to deal with".

Stefan Sylvestre received a life sentence in 2009 after throwing sulphuric acid at Piper's face on the orders of her former partner.

Piper is currently rehearsing for this year's series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Writing on Twitter, the 34-year-old said she felt it was "important" to send a message to her "friends, supporters and followers".

Participating in Strictly, she went on, had given her "a welcome and positive distraction" from her past.

"Whilst there is never a good time to hear this news, I am glad I have this new journey to concentrate on," she wrote.

Sylvestre, now 30, was told in 2009 he would have to serve a minimum of six years before he would be eligible for parole.

His attack on Piper in March 2008, carried out at the behest of her obsessive ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch, left her with horrific injuries and permanent scarring.

The Parole Board's decision summary said Sylvestre's case was considered at an oral hearing and that Piper had read statements in person to the panel.

"The panel took full account of the content of these statements and the supporting documentation," its summary said.

It said that Sylvestre, who was 19 at the time of the attack, had "displayed empathy for the victim and expressed remorse and shame for his actions".

It said he had avoided anti-social behaviour while imprisoned, had "repaired his relationship" with his family and had "completed relevant offence-focused work to challenge and change his attitude and thinking".

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice offered its "heartfelt sympathies" to Piper but said Sylvestre's release was a matter for the Parole Board.

Sylvestre became eligible to be considered for release in April 2014 and had a previous review by the Parole Board in 2015.

Lynch was jailed for life in 2009 with a minimum of 16 years for sexually assaulting Piper and telling Sylvestre to throw acid over her.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-45294803

Ridiculous, she's going to live with the effects of that attack for the rest of her life but he only gets 9 years on a life sentence?

I'm all for rehabilitation but the act of throwing acid into someone's face like that, I just don't see how you can rehabilitate an adult that thinks that's a rational thing to do. If it was a kid that did it then maybe, kids are more open to rehabilitation than adults but this is just ridiculous.

Given how common acid attacks are becoming, they need to be punished harshly and this is just going in the opposite direction.

[Vicky.]

Depressing, but what I have come to expect from our legal system, especially when the victim is female

[Wizard.]

How was he 19 in 2009 and 30 now?

[Ammi]

...it’s heartbreaking really, isn’t it...just 9 years for something which was meant to leave life long scars and ruin a life ...Acid attacks are one of the most evil things imaginable...and now she and her family have this to come to terms with as well...his release after serving so little time...just unbelievably wrong and awful for them, I can’t even imagine.....

[Northern Monkey]

People’s morals are at an all time low these days.People going around stabbing each other and throwing acid on people.Acid is particularly nasty.Disfiguring someone for life in a brutally painful way which they’ll probably never recover from fully.Wtf is wrong with people.
He should’ve got longer than this.It’s bad for her too knowing he’s free.

[Northern Monkey]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

Depressing, but what I have come to expect from our legal system, especially when the victim is female

You think he’d have served longer if the victim was male?

[Kizzy]

9 yrs is a long time when you compare it to the sentences for sexual offences. I'm not downplaying her ordeal but scars aren't always visable.

[Elliot]

Originally Posted by Northern Monkey

You think he’d have served longer if the victim was male?

If the perpetrator was female prob would’ve got half the sentence too
Knew clicking this thread gender would be brought into it

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Elliot

If the perpetrator was female prob would’ve got half the sentence too
Knew clicking this thread gender would be brought into it

Based on what, exactly?

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

9 yrs is a long time when you compare it to the sentences for sexual offences. I'm not downplaying her ordeal but scars aren't always visable.

Tbh, didn't he also rape and beat Katie Piper prior to the acid attack?

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by Northern Monkey

You think he’d have served longer if the victim was male?

I think it would have been taken more seriously if the victim was male, yes. Sentences for violence against women are ****ing ridiculous, especially sexual violence.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Tbh, didn't he also rape and beat Katie Piper prior to the acid attack?

Really?... I don't know, wow if that's the case then no doubt it was a shockingly lenient sentence. The poor woman

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Really?... I don't know, wow if that's the case then no doubt it was a shockingly lenient sentence. The poor woman

Yeah. I'm sure it was an abusive relationship and she lied to the nurses when she went to hospital for treatment and then it was after she finally ended the relationship that he retaliated with the acid attack. She's honestly such an inspiration how she turned all of that around and used it to help other people.

[Jessica.]

This is ridiculous, the pain he caused that girl is worth a lot more than 9 years.

[kirklancaster]

It is now paramount that the sick, bleeding-heart, gullible bastards who sit on Parole Boards are thoroughly investigated and a lot of them given the boot.

A statement which also applies to a lot of our Judiciary.

The 'minimum six years' sentence imposed by the sentencing judge is an absolute ****ing joke given the absolutely horrific and callously evil crime that Sylvestre was convicted of.

The fact that he was not even the obsessed, deranged ex-partner but an emotionally-uninvolved recruited and willing 'Hit-Man, compounds his crime and SHOULD have been a factor in the Judge imposing a more lengthy minimum sentence on him.

As for the Panel saying that Sylvestre: "had avoided anti-social behaviour while imprisoned, had "repaired his relationship" with his family and had "completed relevant offence-focused work to challenge and change his attitude and thinking".

What a load of B.S. and Tosh which they are seeking to justify their imbecilic decision with.

By stating: "he had avoided anti-social behaviour while imprisoned" do they mean that he had not thrown acid into the faces of anyone else while he has been incarcerated? Is that a meaningful statistic seeing as how he was locked up and therefore rendered incapable of obtaining acid anyway?

As for; "repaired his relationship" with his family" that should not matter two hoots because it should have been poor Katie Piper's awful struggle through the years to repair her shattered life while the cosmetic Surgeons struggled to repair her once beautiful face that was the ONLY focus of the Parole Board's attention when considering parole for this bastard.

Rehabilitation is important - but only ONCE adequate punishment has been implemented and TRUE justice served.

The once mighty 'Deterrent' element of Judicial Sentencing has long been abandoned and the consequences of that are all too clear to see in the increasingly lawless society we are now living in.

[LaLaLand]

So in this country, life in prison = less than a decade.

No wonder we're a laughing stock.

[UserSince2005]

shame this looks to be the last CBB

[MTVN]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Yeah. I'm sure it was an abusive relationship and she lied to the nurses when she went to hospital for treatment and then it was after she finally ended the relationship that he retaliated with the acid attack. She's honestly such an inspiration how she turned all of that around and used it to help other people.

It sounds like that was the boyfriend who was abusive though and this is the guy who was only 19 at the time and was persuaded to carry out the attack on his behalf

[MTVN]

Originally Posted by Riley.

How was he 19 in 2009 and 30 now?

19 at the time of the attack, 2009 was when he was sentenced

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by MTVN

It sounds like that was the boyfriend who was abusive though and this is the guy who was only 19 at the time and was persuaded to carry out the attack on his behalf

Oh that's good, is the boyfriend still behind bars?

[Ammi]

...it shouldn’t make a difference though in the sentence in that it doesn’t feel appropriate to his part compared to how her life has changed...this just kind of shows so many wrongs in the justice system because it has always been based on punishments being fitting the crime..and this just doesn’t imo...there was no emotion involved for him in the same way, he agreed to enact something evil to someone who meant nothing to him in any deep way, who hade done nothing to him...that’s a very worrying individual to be in society after such a short term imo...

...so far as the actual boyfriend is concerned..?...I read that he threw boiling hot water in someone’s face in a previous assault ...and then to ‘instruct’ this to be done to Katie..?...having also raped and assaulted her...yeah throw away the key please in this instance...two extremely worrying individuals...

[arista]

SkyNews text:
[The man who attacked TV presenter and author Katie Piper
with acid has gone on the run,
according to the Daily Mirror.
Police are on an "urgent" hunt to find him
after he breached his licence conditions, it reports.]

[Mystic Mock]

Hopefully the Police catch the sick bastard before he hurts someone else.

[GoldHeart]

GOES ON THE RUN?! , why was the vile sicko ever given parole . I just CAN'T with this justice system ... i feel like throwing up .

To chuck ACID in someone's face.... is beyond disgusting & evil . Just think of the long term physical & mental scars. Throw away the damn key!.

[arista]

Originally Posted by GoldHeart

GOES ON THE RUN?! , why was the vile sicko ever given parole . I just CAN'T with this justice system ... i feel like throwing up .

To chuck ACID in someone's face.... is beyond disgusting & evil . Just think of the long term physical & mental scars. Throw away the damn key!.

Yes he will go back to Jail
once they find him.

He destroyed some of her Skin, on her face.

Evil.