Kidnapped model: My true story
Drugged. Terrorised. Auctioned as a sex slave. Astonishing first account of the bizarre abduction everybody’s talking about
MODEL Chloe Ayling breaks her silence today to reveal her full astonishing account of how she was lured to a fake assignment in Milan then drugged, kidnapped and held hostage by masked men to be sold as a sex slave in an internet auction.
In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, the 20-year-old tells, in her own words, the dramatic story of her capture and release that has made headlines around the world.
Held for six nights in a remote Italian farmhouse, the model was finally freed when her alleged captor Lukasz Herba, 30, a Polish national living in Oldbury, near Birmingham, took her to the British Consulate in Milan.
Her account comes as The Mail on Sunday reveals new court documents confirming key details of her story.
Milan magistrate Dr Giovanna Campanile ruled Herba was ‘highly dangerous to society’ and should remain in custody ahead of his trial later this year. Dr Campanile added in a preliminary hearing on July 20: ‘There is grave evidence of the guilt of the arrested person, who has admitted to the Public Prosecutor that he was involved in the kidnap.’ We can also reveal that: Herba has given police the names of nine men he claims were also involved in the plot, including three men from Birmingham;
His lawyer confirmed Herba had not implicated Ms Ayling, from Coulsdon, Surrey, as an accomplice in any way;
The suspect arrived in Italy almost a month before the kidnap, paying €2,400 in cash to rent the building in Milan to which the young model was lured;
Ms Ayling desperately tried to build an emotional bond with her captor – even sharing a bed – in a bid to win his trust and her eventual freedom.
Responding to suggestions of doubt about her story, Ms Ayling said last night: ‘I understand why people have questions. People need to understand that everything I did was so I could survive. I was in a crazy situation and I was terrified. It has been so frustrating and hurtful to have people not believe me. I know the truth, my family knows the truth and it will all come out at the trial.’
Her mother Bea said: ‘Chloe has been through a terrible ordeal. I don’t know how anybody can doubt her. She deserves our support after what she has been through.’
After a painstaking three-week investigation, police in Italy charged Herba with kidnapping and extortion last Saturday, and Ms Ayling was finally allowed to return home to the UK.
Cosmo De Rose, the solicitor acting for Herba, said his client had not made any statement implicating Ms Ayling in the kidnap.
When asked if Herba had ever alleged that Ms Ayling had taken part in a conspiracy, he replied: ‘No. This has not emerged. Absolutely not. No, no, no.’
A source close to the prosecutor’s office in Milan said investigations are ongoing but Ms Ayling’s story was ‘credible’.
The source added that Ms Ayling’s account was backed by evidence of a puncture wound to her wrist where she was injected with the horse drug ketamine.
Her hair was found in the boot of the car Herba was driving, and forensic tests revealed traces of the drug in her body. CHLOE AYLING felt a growing sense of unease as she stepped into the dingy warehouse on the outskirts of Europe’s fashion capital Milan. She was expecting to find a bustling studio. Instead, she was met by an eerie silence.
Laying her black, wheeled suitcase on the tiled floor, Chloe, 20, was reassured when she saw a sign on a door to her left marked ‘Studio’.
Dressed comfortably in a pink Zara jacket, pink body suit, blue River Island jeans and white Adidas trainers, as she reached for the handle, a gloved hand smothered her face. Unable to breathe, a second attacker appeared, brandishing a syringe.
Within seconds she was unconscious. That was the dramatic start of a terrifying kidnapping story that made headlines around the world.
Today, in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Chloe bravely reveals the full horror of her sevenday ordeal, in her own words… TUESDAY, JULY 11 He had a syringe… then everything went black ‘I HAD never been to Italy before so I was really looking forward to it. I arrived a day early, so I could go shopping and be fresh for my shoot, and bought two bikinis.
‘The job had been booked by a photographer called Andre Lazio, who I had met briefly once before in Paris in April.’ IN reality, Lazio was a 30-yearold Polish man, Lukasz Herba, living in a council flat in Oldbury, West Midlands, who was to become her abductor. He is now in custody in Italy charged with kidnapping and extortion. Friends revealed his ambitions to become a millionaire while neighbours branded him ‘creepy’ and a ‘fantasist’, and claimed he walked around with a large pet rat on his shoulder. While denying he was part of the initial kidnap gang, he has admitted his involvement to police in everything else.
‘He had sent me an email via my agent Phil Green giving me the address for the studio. He said the door would be open and I should let myself in. I walked through the open door and put my luggage down. I was expecting to hear people setting up the shoot but there was silence. It was a bit creepy but then I saw a door with a sign on it which said “Studio”. As I reached for the handle, I felt an arm come around my neck. I tried to scream but a gloved hand was covering my mouth and my nose.
‘I panicked because I couldn’t breathe and I brought my hands up to my face. I was trying to get his fingers off my nose and I managed to catch one breath. Another man stepped in front of me wearing a black ski-mask. I could see only his eyes and mouth. He yanked my jacket off me and grabbed my right arm. He had a syringe in his right hand.
‘This was my worst nightmare. I was panicking. I thought they were going to rob or rape me. I was terrified beyond words. hey dragged me to the floor. I just gave up – I thought, “I’m not going to get out of here alive.” Then everything went black.’ POLICE forensic tests later showed the model had been injected with ketamine – a powerful horse tranquilliser. While unconscious, the men stripped Chloe of her trainers, jeans and baseball cap and, most disturbingly, took photos of her semi-naked body. They would later use the horrifying image to advertise her ‘for sale’ as a sex-slave on the dark web. Her clothes, passport, credit cards and iPhone were found the next day. ‘I WOKE up in the boot of a moving car feeling terrible. . My mouth was taped shut. I could hear the car’s radio blaring. ‘Both my feet and hands were handcuffed in front of me. I realised I was inside a bag. I felt groggy, claustrophobic and I started panicking. I was wearing just my knickers, socks and body suit. I touched my face and managed to rip the tape off my mouth. The bag had a hole so I could breathe and see out. I managed to unzip it enough to get my arms out. The car was a hatchback and I started banging on the underneath shouting, “Driver, driver!”
‘The car radio was playing but they could hear me. I felt the car pull over. The boot opened and, through the hole in the bag, I saw two men in ski-masks standing over me.
‘I asked them, “What’s happening?” but they didn’t reply. It was terrifying. They tightened my handcuffs and zipped the holdall back up.
‘We started moving again and it was so hot inside the bag that sweat was pouring off my face. I managed to open the holdall again and was shouting. They stopped again and this time, pulled me up and cuffed my hands behind my back. I noticed they had an empty suitcase. It was about my size. That moment I accepted I was going to die. I thought, “I am never going to see my mum or my son Ashton again.”’ HAVING become frustrated at her banging, Chloe says her abductors pulled over for a third time. One of the men got into the boot with her for the remainder of the journey. ‘THE man was unmasked. He was tall and pale. He lay behind me, and spoke to me in English with a foreign accent. He told me, “You’re going to be fine. Nothing bad will happen to you.” I couldn’t believe him.
‘He took off my handcuffs and unzipped the bag a bit. I asked, “What is going on, where are we going?” But he wouldn’t tell me.
‘The journey felt like hours. We stopped and the unmasked man told me I must put the handcuffs back on or he would inject me again. I was zipped back up in the bag. They carried me for about two minutes and I could hear birds and I knew I was no longer in the city. ‘Then they carried me indoors, placed me down and let me out. The house was dark and cold – all the windows were shuttered. We were in a basic kitchen with a big wooden table, some cabinets and faded yellow walls. I was still in my underwear and felt vulnerable and scared.
‘They took the handcuffs off my wrists but left them on my ankles so I could hobble.
‘The unmasked man led me up the concrete stairs into a small room with wooden floors, a small bed, and a large chest of drawers which had a sleeping bag laid out next to it. I was allowed to go to the toilet. The man came in with me. It was awful.
‘Then the masked man came in and gestured for me to lay on the sleeping bag. He opened the handcuffs on one ankle, wrapped the chain around the drawer’s legs and re-attached it to my other ankle. He then re-attached the handcuffs to one wrist, and wrapped the chain around the leg of the chest of drawers. They went back downstairs talking in a foreign language. The unmasked man then came back upstairs. He said they had just spoken to their boss