A woman who was left paralysed and brain-damaged after she was kidnapped by her then boyfriend and fell from a van travelling at 60mph has managed to stand for the first time, her mother has said.
Angel Lynn, now 22, was snatched off the street by Chay Bowskill in Rothley, Leicestershire, in September 2020 after an argument.
She was later found lying seriously injured in the carriageway of the A6 near Loughborough, Leicestershire Police said.
Her injuries mean she is now unable to walk, talk or feed herself.
But her mother Nikki Lynn has told The Sun that her daughter is communicating more and has stood for the first time since the attack.
“I know it won’t change things but I’m hoping one day she will speak and tell me what happened,” she said.
Bowskill, then aged 20, of Syston, Leicestershire, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in January 2022 after being convicted of kidnap, coercive and controlling behaviour, and perverting the course of justice, following a trial at Leicester Crown Court.
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Last March, Bowskill had his sentence increased to 12 years and the judge has ruled he must serve at least two-thirds of that sentence.
Bowskill’s accomplice, Rocco Sansome, then also aged 20, of Birstall, Leicestershire, was also initially found guilty of kidnap and sentenced to 21 months in prison. His sentence was not changed by Court of Appeal judges.
During the original trial, the prosecutor tried to prove Ms Lynn had been pushed from the van but the jury didn’t convict Bowskill of causing grievous bodily harm.
Nikki told The Sun: “I do think she was pushed because of the injuries she suffered, the force with which she hit the ground.”
She said her daughter’s head “bounced like a football” and she rolled for nearly 50m.
Bowskill claimed Ms Lynn jumped or fell out onto the road but this is not something her family will accept.
Nikki says: “I can’t forgive Chay for what he’s done. He couldn’t acknowledge he was in the wrong. He’s not getting any forgiveness from me.
“Angel was a driver herself, and they were going at 60mph. I don’t think that my daughter would have jumped into the middle of a dual carriageway into oncoming traffic in the next lane.
“She would have known the consequences. She had never been suicidal. He tried to make out in court she was a bad person. One hundred per cent she wasn’t suicidal.
“So I’m just not having that at all. If she wanted out of that van, I think she would have waited a little bit further until the roundabout, where they would have actually slowed down.”
Ms Lynn is receiving 24-hour specialist care in a rehabilitation centre, but her family are trying to raise money to adapt their house so that she can return home.
They have been told that it’s unlikely she will ever recover from her injuries.
Nikki and Patrick Lynn talk about their daughter’s ordeal in a Channel 4 documentary – The Kidnap of Angel Lynn, which airs tonight at 9pm.
