Scottish Daily Mail

Freed... Katie’s acid attacker on weekend break

- Daily Mail Reporter

‘A really difficult time for me’

STRICTLY Come Dancing star Katie Piper’s acid attacker celebrated his first weekend out of jail by whisking his new wife off on a romantic hotel break.

Stefan Sylvestre, 30, was released on Wednesday after serving nine years for the crime that left Miss Piper permanentl­y scarred.

He took mother of one Danielle Burke to the £100-a-night Angel Hotel in Guildford, Surrey.

While Miss Piper, 35, bravely shook off the news that her attacker had been freed by dancing the jive on Strictly, Sylvestre and his wife were ordering burgers and chips to their room.

The couple, who wed in a special Islamic ceremony at Highpoint Jail in Suffolk earlier this year, kept a low profile.

He emerged from their suite only to return to his bail hostel, where he must stay overnight under the terms of his release on licence.

When confronted about his release from prison, he denied he was Sylvestre and claimed instead to be someone called Marcel Johnson.

When told he bore more than a striking similarity to the acid attacker, he smirked and said: ‘F***ing hell, he’s a handsome dude, then.’

Sylvestre was seen leaving the hotel at 8.30pm on Friday to head back to his hostel before returning early the following morning.

His wife, who had to convert to Islam in order to marry him, had travelled from her home in Hammersmit­h, West London, to Surrey earlier on the Friday.

Throughout the day the couple remained largely in their hotel suite, ordering room service for dinner.

They were equally private on Saturday, ordering room service again for breakfast – eggs Benedict – and remaining inside all day rather than head out shopping or visiting Guildford’s bars or restaurant­s.

Sylvestre left the hotel again shortly before 8.30pm that evening. His decision to hide away may have been triggered by the fact that news of his release from prison was made public on Friday evening.

Sylvestre was given a minimum six-year life term in 2009 after attacking Miss Piper in Golders Green, North London, on the orders of her obsessive ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch.

She was left partially blind following the attack and had to wear a plastic mask and endure 40 operations to treat her burns.

Before her performanc­e on Strictly on Saturday evening, the model and TV presenter tweeted: ‘Using meditation to stay calm and centred today. See you on the ballroom floor tonight.’

In August, mother-of-two Miss Piper attended the parole board meeting to ask officials not to release Sylvestre from jail. But they decided that he was no longer a danger to the public and should be released. Following the decision, she told fans in a tweet: ‘This is a really difficult time for me. I am trying to come to terms with the decision and this is something I need to deal with.

‘Over the past two weeks Strictly has given me such a welcome and positive distractio­n from my past. Whilst there is never a good time to hear this news, I am glad I have this new journey to concentrat­e on.’

A friend of Miss Burke, who asked not to be named said: ‘She knows all about his past. They got married in prison earlier this year and once his bail conditions relax, he’s planning on moving in with Danielle and her son.

‘I am wary, though, as this is a man with a history of extreme violence who left Katie Piper with horrific, life-changing injuries.

‘He says he’s a changed man and wants a family life and I hope that’s true for her sake.’

 ??  ?? Out of jail: Sylvestre at the hotel
Out of jail: Sylvestre at the hotel
 ??  ?? Brave: Katie on Strictly
Brave: Katie on Strictly

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