I told you I was telling the truth
British model says the world can now believe her after Polish kidnapper who drugged her and bundled her into suitcase in Italy is jailed
A BRITISH glamour model said she felt vindicated yesterday after the man who kidnapped her in Milan was jailed for almost 17 years.
Chloe Ayling, 20, ‘can get on with her life’ after Lukasz Herba, 30, was found guilty of luring her to a fake photoshoot where he drugged her and bundled her into a suitcase in the boot of a car.
During his trial in the Italian city, Herba claimed Miss Ayling willingly participated in the kidnapping as a publicity stunt to boost her career.
But his story was rejected by the court and he was jailed for 16 years and nine months. Speaking after the sentencing, Miss Ayling said: ‘I am very pleased and relieved by the outcome of today’s hearing and feel that justice has been served and I can get closure on what has been a terrible time for me. I am desperate to put this ordeal behind me, move on with my life and forge a new path now that the world can see I was telling the truth.
‘I refuse to be labelled as simply a kidnapped model, or a victim forever.’
The mother of one said she was grateful to the Italian legal system for believing her version of events while ‘some seemed to doubt them’. Agent Adrian Sington, who represents Miss Ayling said: ‘This has been an incredible burden on her shoulders for the last year… and this is vindication – her story is true. And it means now she can get on with her life.’
Miss Ayling was snatched after attending a fake photoshoot last year. She was drugged with ketamine, stripped and handcuffed before being bundled into a suitcase in the boot of a car.
Herba, who is Polish, then drove her for five hours to a remote farmhouse in Borgial, near Turin, where she was held hostage for six days. The former DHL delivery driver sent an email to Miss Ayling’s agent Philip Green, saying: ‘I am a mid-level hitman with Black Death.
‘She has been taken by our group and
‘I refuse to be labelled as a victim forever’
will be sold by our group to Middle Eastern buyers.’
He sent another email claiming that Black Death – a shadowy online trafficking network – would auction her for around £300,000.
Herba suggested he could act as a mediator, if Mr Green paid a £230,000 ransom in Bitcoin, the online currency. On the second email, Herba attached a photo of Miss Ayling wearing a pink bodice. Suspicions over Miss Ayling’s version of events arose after it emerged that she had been in contact with her kidnapper in 2015 aged just 17.
The model, of Coulsdon, South London, had accepted a ‘friend’ request from him on Facebook and sent him at least two messages.
In another twist, footage of the pair holding hands during her ordeal was played to the court.
The following day, Herba released her at the British consulate in Milan. In his initial statement to police, he said he did so out of sympathy for the fact she was a mother. Herba, who used to live in the West Midlands, said they planned the kidnap together over Facebook so that they could share the ransom. He said: ‘She wanted to be a model and she wanted to go on reality TV. She said she wanted to raise her profile and that it would be useful to her career to create a scandal. She has no money so I said I would help her. I hoped that at the end she would remember me and we could be together. I loved her.’
Prosecutor Paolo Storari told the court that Herba is a ‘fantasist with narcissistic tendencies’.
He said: ‘Let’s not forget Chloe Ayling was put in a hold-all and kept in the boot of a car for five hours and could have died. He treated Chloe not as a person but a thing.
‘She could have been allergic to ketamine, she could have suffered from claustrophobia. She could have died.’
Herba’s brother Michal, 36, is also accused of being part of the plot and is trying to block attempts to extradite him from the UK to face trial in Italy.