The acid attacker who left Strictly star Katie Piper scarred for life has reportedly been released from jail.
Steven Sylvestre was jailed for life in 2009 for throwing sulphuric acid into the face of the TV presenter in 2008.
Sylvestre, then aged 20, was required to serve a minimum sentence of six years for the attack, and in August prison officials deemed him to be safe to return to public life.
The acid thug, who left Katie fighting for life and needing over 40 surgeries since the attack, was reportedly released from Highpoint jail, in Suffolk, on Wednesday and driven to a bail hostel in London.
Strictly bosses have allegedly increased her security following the news, and the author and TV presenter has been spotted with bodyguards during coffee breaks.
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A source told The Sun: Sylvestres licence conditions include an exclusion zone which bars him from an area around Katies address.
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Any attempt to go near the Strictly studios in Hertfordshire would almost certainly also see him returned straight to jail.
But although Sylvestre is banned from contacting Katie in any way, the simple fact that hes back in London will be of great concern to her.
He will also be required to keep a nightly curfew, expected to be between 11pm and 7am, and will be subjected to random drug tests.
Sources also said that his life-long licence condition ban him from contacting Katies obsessed ex-boyfriend, Daniel Lynch, who raped her before hiring Sylvestre to throw the acid in her face.
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Lynch was given a minimum 16-year life sentence and will remain behind bars.
This was the second time Sylvestre has applied for parole, after he was turned down in 2015.
In her autobiography, the TV presenter and charity worker wrote of the moment she heard that her attacker was seeking parole for the first time.
She wrote: The two of them had taken so much from me, and now this mans punishment might soon be over. I thought, “Im the one with the life sentence. Not him. He can change his identity, change his name, get a new job, a partner, move on, but I cant. I cant pretend it didnt happen because its all over my face”.
The horrific attack meant she was put into an induced coma for 12 days and had to have all the skin on her face completely removed and replaced with a synthetic substitute to build the foundations for a skin graft.
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It left Katie blind in one eye, and her ongoing recovery has meant she has had to endure more than 40 operations.
The courageous young woman used her experience to try and benefit others and set up the Katie Piper Foundation, which aims to create a world where scars do not limit a persons wellbeing.
She has since gone on to become a hugely successful TV personality, author and activist and married her husband Richard Sutton in 2015.
They have two daughters, Belle, who was born in 2014, and Penelope, who was born in December.
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