A woman who was left with brain damage after being kidnapped has said her first word in three years.
Angel Lynn, 22, now needs round-the-clock care after was found on the carriageway of the A6 near Loughborough in September 2020.
Her ex-boyfriend Chay Bowskill is now serving a 12-year jail term for kidnap, coercive and controlling behaviour, and perverting the course of justice after grabbing her off the street and forcing her into a silver transit driven by his accomplice Rocco Sansome.
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Angel fell out of the van head-first onto the road while the vehicle was being driven at over 60mph.
Watch below as Angel's parents reveal that their daughter has said her first word in three years:
Angel’s mum, Nikki Lynn, told Good Morning Britain today (11 September) that she feared her daughter would ‘never speak again’.
Sat alongside her husband Paddy, the mother said: "I just walked in and she was groaning.
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"So I said to her, ‘Angel, you know if you’re making those sort of noises you must be able to say something’.
"And that’s when I just started making noises myself and she just came out with it."
Her first word in three years was 'mum'.
"I had no warning or anything that she was going to speak. I never thought she would speak again. You don’t like to get your hopes up about anything really," Nikki added.
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The horrific incident was featured in recent Channel 4 documentary, The Kidnap of Angel Lynn, where Nikki opened up about seeing her daughter in the intensive care unit for the first time.
"When they opened the curtain to let me in, I just fell on the floor," she said.
Stuart Smith, Consultant Neurosurgeon at Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, explained: "Her injury was so devastating and so severe that there was a very real chance that Angel wouldn’t survive."
The mother added: “(We’re) just absolutely devastated that we didn’t spot it. Because we wouldn’t be here today had we spotted it earlier.
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“It can happen to anyone. It doesn’t matter how strong you are. It can happen to men and women.
“We’ve had to do this because this is how we tell other people about being coerced and how easy it is, even if you’re strong minded, that it can happen to you and to just get out of it, because I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through what we’ve been through.”
Angel’s cousin has set up a GoFundMe page to support her recovery.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, call Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit their website here. In an emergency always dial 999.
Anish Vij