Katie Piper shares cryptic posts about mental health as police launch hunt for her acid attacker who has gone on the run after being recalled to prison
- Stefan Sylvestre given life sentence in 2009 for acid attack on model Katie Piper
- Released on parole in 2018, he now faces more time in jail after going missing
- The Probation Service said it was urgently working with the police to find him
- But MoJ and Met Police are yet to reveal when and where Sylvestre went missing
- Acid attack in 2008 was ordered by Katie’s obsessive ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch
Katie Piper has shared Instagram posts about the importance of self-worth and happiness as it was revealed the career criminal who doused her in acid has gone on the run.
MailOnline can reveal that model and TV presenter Ms Piper had her family around for a Sunday roast yesterday to celebrate her birthday this week – just hours before it was revealed Stefan Sylvestre was being hunted by police.
Sylvestre has vanished after being recalled to jail for breaching his licence conditions, with police launching an urgent hunt to track the criminal down. He has not been arrested.
The Ministry of Justice refused to confirm any further details as to his licence conditions, and would not clarify when he went missing, or where from, when asked by MailOnline. Scotland Yard has also been asked to comment.
Sylvestre, from Shepherd’s Bush, west London, was given a life sentence in 2009 for the attack which left former model Katie, then 24, with horrific injuries.
Katie, who is 39 on Wednesday, was left fighting for her life after her obsessive ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch arranged for then 19-year-old Sylvestre to throw sulphuric acid at her in Golders Green, north London in 2008.
Ms Piper’s most recent Instagram posts have been related to mental health, especially about the importance of self-esteem. She has spoken openly about how her sense of self had been stripped away by the injuries she suffered 14 years ago.
In one post named ‘comparison is the thief to joy’ just before Sylvestre’s disappearance was revealed, Katie said: ‘I’ll find myself receiving a compliment or feeling proud, and thinking ‘well, it’s not as good as that thing or someone else’s achievements’ and feeling down about it.
Katie Piper (pictured last week) was left with horrific injuries after Stefan Sylvestre, then 19, threw acid at her in 2008
Sylvestre (pictured) was given a life sentence in 2009 for the attack and released on parole in 2018. He has now gone missing after being recalled to jail for breaching his licence conditions
Katie Piper has shared Instagram posts about the importance of self-worth and happiness as her attacker fled the authorities
‘Being simply happy and content, is what I’ll continually search for in all areas of my life. The feeling of not particularly always needing more, but to feel happy with what you have, both personally, materially etc. Does anyone else feel like this? I’m so intrigued If this is a shared sentiments’.
Sylvestre was jailed for life with a minimum of six years and became eligible for parole in 2015. At the time he was deemed unfit for release but a further application in 2018 was successful and he was freed aged 30, but ordered to stay away from Katie.
In 2019 he was recalled to prison over a string of car thefts but got parole again in 2020 and was released after prosecution errors came to light.
Sylvestre was in the process of again being recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions when he went on the run from the police.
A Probation Service spokesman said: ‘We are urgently working with the police to bring the offender back to prison where he’ll face longer behind bars.’
Lynch was jailed for life with a minimum of 16 years for sexually assaulting Katie and telling Sylvestre to throw acid over her. He cannot be considered for release until 2025.
The pair had dated briefly before steroid-fuelled martial arts fan Lynch, who had a previous conviction for pouring boiling water over a man, became obsessively jealous.
In court, Lynch and Sylvestre were told by Judge Nicholas Browne QC that they were ‘the face of pure evil’.
Model and TV presenter Katie had to wear a mask after the attack and needed 40 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.
Daniel Lynch (pictured), who ordered the attack on Katue (right), cannot be considered for release until 2025
Before the attack, Miss Piper, 26, was a model and aspiring TV presenter. She is pictured before the attack
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, Katie 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.’
In October 2019 she bravely shared a graphic image online displaying the terrible injuries she sustained after being doused with sulphuric acid.
Since the ordeal Katie has rebuilt her life, featuring on numerous TV shows, including a 2009 documentary about the impact of the attack. She also featured on the hit BBC show Strictly Come Dancing in 2018 (pictured)
Katie was again taken to hospital for emergency surgery in August this year (pictured) after she was left in ‘extreme pain’ and her husband Richard Sutton noticed a black spot in her eye
Captioning the photo, she wrote: ‘I remember when I didn’t want to look at anyone. I remember when I didn’t want anyone to look at me. I remember when I was scared of people, scared of men.
‘I remember when I was scared of the world.
‘I remember when opening up to people and talking about my trauma and psychological damage just wasn’t possibly.’
Since the ordeal Katie has rebuilt her life, featuring on numerous TV shows, including a 2009 documentary about the impact of the attack.
She has also took part in the hit BBC show Strictly Come Dancing in 2018 and launched the Katie Piper Foundation to raise awareness for other victims of burns and other disfigurement attacks and injuries.
This year she was awarded an OBE for charity and burns services in the New Year Honours.
The mother-of-two described it as ‘a wonderful privilege’ to receive an OBE from Princess Anne at Windsor Castle in February.
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