Angel Lynn, now 22, has already exceeded expectations by standing up and taking her first steps after she suffered severe brain damage while trying to escape an abusive relationship with Chay Bowskill in September 2020.
At the time, Angel was a 19-year-old college student from Loughborough, Leics, with ambitions to become a forensic scientist. Always close to her parents and friends, her life is said to have changed forever when she started a relationship with Bowskill, who was controlling and abusive.
When Angel made the decision to leave Bowskill, he bundled her into the back of a van driven by a friend, Rocco Sansome. Devoted mum Nikki, from Loughborough, Leicestershire, believed she was pushed out of the van at 60mph.
Bowskill was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of kidnap, coercive and controlling behavior, and perverting the course of justice. Last year, his sentence was increased to 12 years after Court of Appeal judges said his original term for kidnapping was not enough.
Now Nikki, 48, is focused on her daughter’s recovery and remains optimistic about the future. She told The Sun: “She is communicating more and more. I know it won’t change things but I’m hoping one day she will speak and tell me what happened.”
She added: “I do think she was pushed because of the injuries she suffered, the force with which she hit the ground.” Nikki says Angel is making leaps and bounds at the rehab unit, which cannot be disclosed for her safety.
She is able to communicate with an iPad and has told her mum she wants a “grey Audi”. Angel is also able to give a thumbs up and a thumbs down as well as high fives, her mum says. Nikki says she visits her every day and has even taken her out shopping where she bought leggings, T-shirts, socks, and handbags. A TV documentary that follows Angel’s recovery will air tonight on Channel 4 at 9 pm.
Producers Wonderhood Studios said they were seeking to give victims of coercive control a voice. The program uses texts, social media posts, photos, and calls between Angel and Bowskill to reveal her life before and after she suffered horrific injuries.
It follows her rehabilitation and slow recovery, which have left her loved ones hopeful she may yet be able to remember and communicate the details of what happened in the run-up to the kidnapping.
C4’s Will Rowson, who commissioned Kidnapped: The Angel Lynn Story, said: “Angel and her family have been so brave, choosing to share their story in the hope it will help others.” Wonderhood Studios boss Samantha Anstiss said: “One woman is killed every three days in the UK as a result of domestic abuse so, sadly, Angel’s story will be familiar to many.”