He flashed two knives, saying: I’m an assassin for Black Death

and there had been a mistake. He said they took the wrong woman.

‘I felt a rush of relief because that might mean they would let me go. He said the boss was on his way and he had to leave me to go on another job. He left the room and a sudden wave of terror passed over me. It sounds crazy but I hoped I’d be freed that day. There were raised, angry voices. A door slammed and a man sounded like he made an angry phone call. Another man came into the room. He unlocked my hands, took the tape off. CHLOE is unable to say with any certainty that the man now in front of her was one of the two masked kidnappers from the car. But she is certain that she never saw the tall, pale man from the car boot again. He may be a Pole known as Tom, according to statements to police by Herba. ‘THE new man wasn’t wearing a mask. He told me: “I don’t know if you remember me but we met in Paris”. I was confused. I looked at him and asked, “Andre the photographer?” He said coldly, “I am not a photographer.” He told me he was a senior member of a gang called Black Death which kidnaps young white women and sells them to wealthy Arabs. He said he was known as MD.’ IN fact, Chloe would only come to know her abductor by his real name, Lukasz Herba, after his arrest when Italian police revealed his true identity. ‘HE told me there had been a big mistake because they don’t kidnap mothers. He said he was angry at the men who kidnapped me because they had misread his email that said I “mustn’t” be kidnapped. He explained they thought it said “must”. I didn’t know what to believe. He said the auction would still go ahead in five days – Sunday – and the starting bid was $300,000. That was too much to take in. I was in shock. That will always be the worst day of my life. Then he said he wanted to help me because I had been taken by mistake. He asked me what my family had to offer. It was just me and Mum at home, there was no way we could afford a ransom. I gave him the names of three people.’

WEDNESDAY, JULY 12 He said I’d be crazy to try to escape – I’d be killed at once

THREE wealthy contacts of Chloe were named in a ransom message sent to her agent, Phil Green. They have confirmed they were contacted by UK police. Chloe named her friend Rory McCarthy, an investment banker, celebrity talent agency boss Dave Read and Paul Baxendale-Walker, the wealthy former owner of Loaded magazine, who she knew through modelling. Mr Green reported the message to police. A major investigation was launched. Police swooped on the Milan studio and found Chloe’s clothes, suitcase and personal items. ‘I SPENT the first night seminaked and handcuffed to the chest of drawers. I felt so tired and groggy from the drugs that I did sleep despite everything. My mind was just in total lockdown. I was so terrified I couldn’t even cry out, he’d told me we were in a remote area with no help.

‘The next morning he came into the room, sat down on the bed and told me his boss at Black Death – who he called CK – had said if my family paid “whatever they could afford” I could be released on Sunday.

‘He told me he felt sorry for the mistake. He said he was willing to pay most of the ransom himself to make things right. Strange as it sounds now, I never thought he was a crazy person. I believed him completely, I was so terrified I couldn’t think straight. It just seemed to make sense at the time. People might think I’m gullible. It’s easy to say that if you’ve not been through what I’ve been through.

‘Next he uncuffed me so I could go to the bathroom. When I came back, he said I didn’t have to put the handcuffs back on. Suddenly, there was a glimmer of hope.

‘But at the same time, he told me he was an assassin for Black Death and showed me two knives. He said his favourite method of murder was poison. He was talking so casually, it was terrifying. He said that he had worked for Black Death for five years and had earned $15million. He said I would be crazy to try to escape because I would be instantly killed. He said we were no longer in Italy, somewhere very remote, and that Black Death agents were nearby.

‘I promised him I wouldn’t try to escape. Then he told me I could share the double bed in the next room. Literally anything was better than lying handcuffed on the floor so I said yes. I didn’t want to upset him – he had told me he was a killer. Anyone in my position would have done the same. Anyone. I lay on the double bed, he sat down next to me and he talked at me for hours. He was not interested in talking about me – it was as if he was trying to impress me and feed his ego. I wanted to block it all out but I encouraged him to talk. I thought if he liked me he might not kill me. He fell asleep on his side of the bed. I couldn’t run. I was paralysed with fear. I thought they would track me down. I silently cried myself to sleep. I didn’t want to cry in front of him.

‘That night, I must have cried for two hours thinking about my family. I imagined what it would be like if I was sold as a sex slave.

Earlier, he had told me that when the buyers get bored of the girls they feed them to tigers.’

THURSDAY, JULY 13 I heard a helicopter… but the sound faded away

PHIL Green responds to the ransom email with the single word: ‘Received.’ Herba sends a rambling email to three British media organisations informing them of Chloe’s kidnapping and imminent auction. One of them media organisations contacts the police but is warned that broadcasting the story could jeopardise Chloe’s safety. There is a news blackout. ‘THAT morning he allowed me to have a shower for the first time in three days. I was still dressed in my knickers and the top from when I had been stripped two days earlier. He gave me a pair of his clean boxer shorts and one of his T-shirts. He had offered me food – it looked like bread dipped in honey – but I refused. I hadn’t eaten because I was scared he would poison me but I had no appetite. I was losing all hope of ever seeing my family again.

‘I’m obsessed with my teeth so I asked for toothpaste and a toothbrush. He bought them and I would brush my teeth four times a day. It’s something you take for granted but, in the house, that tiny act of brushing my teeth meant so much to me. I had no other toiletries – no razor or hairbrush.

‘I spent another day in the bedroom. I wasn’t allowed downstairs. He talked and talked to me. At some point I heard the sound of a helicopter circling. It must have been for about ten or 15 minutes. It was enough to make my captor paranoid. My heart was racing that it might be a rescue attempt but it went away.’

FRIDAY, JULY 14 He said he wanted to kiss me. I lied: ‘Maybe, when I’m free’

CHLOE says her captor confided that he was developing feelings towards her, claiming he wanted to quit Black Death and maybe they could meet in the future. It was like a reverse Stockholm Syndrome, where long-term hostages form strong feelings for their abductors. She decides to lead him on so he will think twice about harming or killing her. Although a website exists on the dark web, it remains unclear whether Black Death is a functioning criminal gang or created by Herba’s warped imagination as part of his plot. ‘AFTER another night trying to block out the nightmare I was living by sleeping, I awoke. He told me I looked beautiful several times. I thanked him. I didn’t want to upset him. He said he really wanted to kiss me but I replied, maybe, once I was free. I was just leading him on and hanging on to the thought he might release me.

‘The thought of kissing him disgusted me and I had no intention of going through with it. Despite sharing the bed, under two separate blankets, there was no physical contact. Later that day, he gave me some milk chocolate because he could see how weak I was getting. I finally ate. It was the first thing for three days.

‘At times the worry of how my mum was coping became worse than how I was worried about myself. We are best friends and normally send each other texts. I thought about her all the time and about my little boy.

‘He [her captor] gave me two books – battered old paperbacks, I can’t remember what they were – but I couldn’t read them because I couldn’t concentrate.’

SATURDAY, JULY 15 I couldn’t run away. Black Death would be watching me

AS he had done every day, Herba left the house in the morning, for about 20 minutes to drive down the road, ostensibly to get better mobile reception to check his emails. Police are now examining his mobile devices but have not revealed if he was talking or emailing anyone. Enquiries by the Mail on Sunday suggest he was spotted in the village drinking coffee alone. It emerged after his arrest that Herba’s UK girlfriend, Natalia, thought he was on a business trip in Texas. ‘HE would leave me alone in the house for up to half an hour at a time. But I didn’t dare make a run for it or even go downstairs because I believed Black Death would be watching. He came back in and said my agent had replied that he might be able to raise some money for my release. I was elated. Then he said his boss told him they may now push back the auction to see if they could get more money from the agent.

‘I was devastated, For the first time I broke down in tears in front of him. He started trying to cheer me up. He revealed we were still in Italy and said he would take me to the local village the next day.

‘Later, for the first time all week, he brought me some of the food he had been eating downstairs. We ate tinned ham and gherkins. It did not taste great but I had hardly eaten anything since Tuesday and was starving.’

SUNDAY, JULY 16 I was finally allowed out and saw the mountains. Beautiful.

CHLOE’S family are frantic, waiting for news from police. No one knows whether the auction threatened by Herba on the dark web will go ahead. Chloe is still desperately trying to build ties with her kidnapper. ‘HE woke up really early. He said that I had to have a shower and that he was going to relieve the sexual frustrations that had been building all week. I closed the bathroom door. I knew what he was doing. We didn’t talk about it.’ ITALIAN police forensic experts later found traces of semen on the double bed they had shared. During interviews, they asked Chloe if she had been raped or sexually assaulted, which she had not. There is no other suggestion from police that the pair engaged in any sexual relations and Chloe insists Herba never touched her. ‘WHEN I came out of the shower, he gave me a baggy blue and red tracksuit and his large flip-flops. I looked ridiculous. I was allowed downstairs and, when he opened the door to the house, I saw the mountains. It was such a beautiful view. The bright sunlight stung my eyes after days indoors. THE pair drive into the nearby village of Viu, a stop-off for people hiking in the region’s mountains. ‘IT was a ten-minute drive. We parked and walked into a hiking shop and I grabbed the first pair of trainers I saw. They were one size too big but it didn’t matter.

‘People have asked me since why didn’t I run away or raise the alarm. I thought it was too risky. He told me I was being watched. I didn’t speak the language and was scared no one would understand me. He had a knife and he had said I would be killed if I tried to escape. We bought some fruit at the grocer and headed back to the house. Later, he did another email check and when he came back into the room he said his boss had agreed I could be released with strict conditions. I was so happy but I wouldn’t let myself believe it would happen – I was terrified he would change his mind again.

‘He said there were conditions and showed me an email he claimed was from Black Death. It said I had to pay $50,000 within one month of my release. Of course, I agreed. I knew I would never be able to afford it but I didn’t care – I was desperate to go free. He also gave me some other bizarre conditions: I couldn’t criticise or bad-mouth Black Death or talk to the police.

‘He initially said he would drop me off at a police station in Milan. Then he changed his mind and told me he would take me to the British Consulate when it opened at 9.30am. He first said he would drop me 20 minutes away and I could walk there – that was the reason I needed the trainers. He set his alarm for 4am.’

MONDAY, JULY 17 I walked up to a woman and said: I’ve been abducted

‘WE woke early and left for Milan at about 4.30am. I was so excited when we left the house. I was starting to believe he might be preparing to release me. He typed the postcode of the consulate into the sat-nav and I pretended to doze off but I was keeping an eye on the sat-nav. At some point he decided that he would take me all the way to the consulate. He told me I was lucky as only six girls had ever been released from the thousands taken by Black Death, and that was because their parents had paid their ransom.

‘He said he would drop me off 20 minutes from the consulate but we arrived so early he said he didn’t want to leave me on my own and that he would drop me at the

building. He told me to say he was a friend I had called after I had escaped my abductor. We were two hours early so we went to a cafe next to the building.

‘He seemed very calm. When the consulate building opened we walked in but we were still five minutes too early so we waited in reception. We got in a lift up to the office. Two armed soldiers were standing by an intercom. I buzzed it and a woman’s voice asked if I had an appointment. I said, “No, it’s an emergency – I want to talk in private”.

‘The door opened and we walked in. I walked up to the woman at the counter, an Italian employee, and told her, “I’ve been abducted”.

‘She asked my name and I told her. He was behind me and I saw him put on his sunglasses. It was quite bizarre.

The woman said, “Come with me”. He looked annoyed when she told him he wasn’t allowed in and tried to insist on coming. Then he said, “I’m leaving” and started walking off. The woman told him, “Don’t go, we need you here.” She opened a door for me to go through to a private room and we sat down together.

‘I told her I had been kidnapped at a modelling studio and broke down in tears.

I started telling her the story and she started crying too. She told me she knew who I was.

‘I didn’t tell her the man I was with was my abductor because I was still scared he’d have me killed. But the woman had already called the police.

‘About ten plain-clothes officers came in and surrounded him near the lift. He looked at me and shook his head. It was a look that said, “Don’t say anything.” Two police officers and the female consulate worker walked me into the lift. They took me to a police car and put the sirens on as we drove to the police station. I was free.’ AFTER giving her account to police over 15 hours, Chloe subsequently spends three weeks in Italy under police protection before Herba is charged officially and she is allowed to return to the UK. Since news broke of her kidnapping ordeal, and she was pictured at home in Surrey smiling, Chloe has faced public scrutiny and even questions about whether she might have been involved in the plot as a publicity stunt to further her career. ‘EVEN after my kidnapper was taken into custody, I was still terrified. I feared other members of Black Death might be hunting for me. I could barely eat or sleep. But the first time I finally spoke to my mum, two days after my release, I broke down and wept. I just cried and cried.

‘I feel so happy to be home but I still feel wary. In the back of my mind part of me is still worried that maybe Black Death is real and they will come after me. 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 every minute. I thought I was never going to get home.

‘It has been so frustrating and hurtful to have people not believe me and to cast doubt on what I have been through. So many lies have been said. But I know the truth, the police know the truth and it will all come out at the trial.

‘This experience has taught me what is really important in life. I am so happy to finally be home. People were criticising me for smiling when I was photographed back home – but why wouldn’t I smile? I survived.’ HERBA remains in custody in a high-security jail awaiting trial. He claims he was manipulated by Romanian gangsters but has admitted his role in the kidnap plot. He has given police the names of nine men he said were also involved in the plot, including three Romanians from Birmingham. Herba reportedly told police he joined the gang because he had leukaemia and needed money. But Italian police sources have described Herba as a ‘mythomaniac’, and ‘pathological liar’ and said there is no medical proof of his illness.

Milan magistrate Dr Giovanna Campanile ruled that Herba is ‘highly dangerous to society’ and that he should remain in custody ahead of his trial, according to legal papers seen by The Mail on Sunday. Dr Campanile added: ‘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 of Chloe Ayling.’

When asked if his client had ever alleged Miss Ayling was part of a conspiracy over her kidnapping, Herba’s lawyer, Cosmo De Rose replied: ‘No. This has not emerged. Absolutely not. No, no, no.’