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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Nicola Methven

Angel Lynn: Life story of teen kidnapped by boyfriend and left paralysed to be shown in TV doc

The life story of Angel Lynn, who nearly died after falling from a moving van when her violent lover kidnapped her, is being made into a TV documentary.

The 21-year-old suffered severe brain damage while trying to escape an abusive relationship with Chay Bowskill in September 2020.

Producers Wonderhood Studios said they were seeking to give victims of coercive control a voice.

The programme uses texts, social media posts, photos and calls between Angel and Bowskill to reveal her life before and after she suffered horrific injuries.

The film, due to air later this spring on Channel 4, has full access to Angel’s parents Nikki and Paddy, other members of her family and her closest friends from school and work.

The woman was left paralysed and unable to eat after the ordeal (Lynn family/BPM Media)
Chay Bowskill was found guilty of kidnap, coercive and controlling behaviour and perverting the course of justice (Leicestershire Police / SWNS)

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.

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 for ever when she started a ­relationship with Bowskill, who was controlling and abusive.

Viewers will learn that he went to prison but their relationship continued and when he was released, his behaviour became even more threatening – and Angel began to withdraw.

After being hurt in an incident in which she had been violently thrown against a wall, Angel took the brave decision to leave him. What happened next is unclear, but it ended with Bowskill bundling her into the back of a van driven by a friend, Rocco Sansome, and Angel falling out of it at approximately 60mph.

A video grab shows the shocking kidnap of the then college student (Leicestershire Police / SWNS)

The pair drove off, leaving her for dead.

While doctors said Angel was unlikely to survive, she pulled out of her coma and has since been making gradual progress, including recently taking her first steps again.

Bowskill eventually had his jail sentence increased to 12 years.

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.”

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