By Molly Lee
The nurses guided Nikki Lynn into the Intensive Care Unit at Nottingham Queen’s Medical Centre. They’d prepared her for the worst. Nikki knew her 19-year-old daughter, Angel, might die. She knew her daughter’s injuries were serious and what she was about to see would horrify her.
“But I’ve never, ever seen anything like this in my life,” she says today, three years later, and still quick to cry as she recounts the day she nearly lost her daughter. “Not even on TV. Nothing. I still can’t believe it.”
Angel Lynn, then 19, a vivacious and ambitious young woman, lay motionless in a hospital bed. Her head was twice the size it should have been. You couldn’t see Angel’s eyes or eyebrows due to swelling. Her body was covered in cuts and bruises. Tubes were forced into her throat as a ventilator kept her alive.
Nikki Lynn took one look at her daughter and her legs buckled. She collapsed. The situation seemed hopeless.
Nikki’s husband, Paddy, remained hopeful. “She’ll make it. She’s strong,” he used to say to his wife. “Yeah, well she ain’t that strong,” Nikki replied, in disbelief that her daughter might possibly live.
Angel Lynn had fallen from a van, driving at 60mph, on the A6. She was kidnapped by her abusive ex-boyfriend, Chay Bowskill.
In a court case that made headlines all over the country, Bowskill was originally sentenced to seven years and six months for kidnapping Angel, coercive and controlling behaviour, and perverting the course of justice. He was never charged for Angel’s life-changing fall from the van. He claims it was an accident. Nikki refuses to accept this.
After an appeal, his sentence was deemed too lenient and was extended to 12 years in prison. Nikki doesn’t know exactly where he is. “He’s not having a very nice time in jail,” says Nikki, her face breaking out in a wry smile. “Oh, it makes my day!”
Although Angel’s family believe he deserves a life sentence, it’s them who are serving one of their own. Angel will never have her normal life back.
Angel was an outgoing, bright girl who was always smiling. She studied public services for two years and aspired to be a forensic scientist. This all changed when Angel met Bowskill in the summer of 2019. On September 17, 2020, Angel was left paralysed with severe brain injuries.
Bowskill had a bad reputation. He stole cars and broke into houses. Nikki didn’t like him. She knew Angel deserved better. “He just came across loud and full of himself,” says Nikki, with a bitter tone. “He didn’t work. He got his money by nicking cars and robbing.”
Angel’s appearance and behaviour started to change. Bowskill was controlling and abusive. On several occasions, he would hit and verbally abuse her. Once, he even caused her to have a fit from how hard he smacked her head against a wall – all while his mother was sitting downstairs.
“It’s sad because we’ve got such a big family,” says Nikki, wiping her tears away. “And she didn’t come to anybody for help or advice.”
Harrowing footage shown in court highlighted the moment Bowskill dragged Angel into his van, the van she would fall out of and sustain life-changing injuries. Nikki refused to watch it at first. When she did, she broke down in court. She couldn’t handle watching him put his hands on her precious daughter and take off.
Both Bowskill and his mate Rocco Sansome, the driver who was given 21 months in prison, had identical stories. Even the metaphor of “she was bouncing down the road like a football.” It took them eight minutes to get out of the van. They didn’t get out straight away after Angel fell out. That says it all for Nikki.
Angel’s time in hospital was anything but short and easy. She was in a coma for a long time, with doctors saying she wouldn’t survive. She proved them wrong. Slowly, she began to wake up. Due to Covid-19, her family were unable to see her most of the time. Her mum would ring 20 times a day. When they could visit, they would play music, listen to voice notes from her friends and hold her hand.
But, really, there was nothing they could do – just pray and hope Angel would pull through.
Nikki would hold her son accountable if he did something like Bowskill did. However, the offenders’ families were not kind to the Lynn family. The two facing trial showed no remorse. They laughed all the way through and showed no respect. “I just wanted to jump up and rip his head off,” says Nikki, who had to remain calm while sitting metres away from those who nearly killed her daughter.
Angel celebrated her 23rd birthday on December 4, 2023. Her mum did her daughter’s hair and make-up, and they met her friends and family in the pub. It was a nice night. But at the back of Nikki’s mind, she knows this is not how Angel should have spent her 23rd birthday. Her life is nothing like it was. Bowskill stole that from Angel – and her family – three years ago.
- A GoFundMe page is active to support Angel’s recovery and has already raised more than £200,000. “She’ll never be Angel again like she was,” says Nikki, who is determined to get Angel to a new normal.
