'They said my Angel wouldn't survive the night'

Angel Lynn was bundled into a van before she was found injured on the A6

A mother whose daughter suffered life-changing injuries after being kidnapped has said she was told she would not survive the night.

Angel Lynn was bundled into a van by her then boyfriend before she was found on the A6 in Leicestershire in 2020.

Her mother Nikki said Angel was in a rehabilitation unit having speech and language therapy and the community was raising money to help her come home.

"We are really grateful to everyone," she said.

Her family say they want her home as soon as possible

Miss Lynn, who was 19 at the time, fell from the van as it was travelling at about 60mph (97km/h) along the dual carriageway and suffered severe brain injuries.

She was left unable to communicate, walk or feed herself.

Mrs Lynn said: "She was really, really badly injured. They said she wouldn't survive the night and that she wasn't going to wake up at all.

"Now she's getting lots of physio. She's having speech and language therapy.

"She is learning how to swallow again, and then she won't need PEG [percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy] feeding because she doesn't eat.

"She is starting to move her left side very slightly and she's got a communication machine.

"She is communicating in little bits but she still gets really tired. It is nice that she understands everything you're saying to her."

The community has raised funds to help the family bring Angel home

Mrs Lynn said the community had rallied around and more than £170,000 had been raised towards Angel's care and adapting the family's home.

"It's been difficult but the family and Angel's friends have been really supportive," she said.

"There's so much work that needs to be done because our house is quite small. There's no way she could come home while it's like it is."

She said the home would require adaptations including a downstairs bedroom, a wet room and facilities for a carer.

Nikki said friends and family had been very supportive

"We just want to get her back home but the whole house has got to be changed," she told BBC Radio Leicester.

"We just want her back at home with us, with her brothers and sisters and family.

"She doesn't get to spend proper family time so I just want her home as soon as possible.

"I never expected the [community] response. Everyone loves her to bits.

"We are really grateful to them. Times are hard at the moment, so to give up their money for Angel is really nice."

Footage showed Chay Bowskill putting Angel in the back of a van

Chay Bowskill, from Syston, kidnapped Miss Lynn following an argument on 17 September 2020.

CCTV footage showed him lifting her up and carrying her across a road before putting her in the back of the van.

His term of seven and a half years in a young offenders institution was increased to 12 years after a review.