Kidnap model Chloe: Now you know I was telling the truth
Captor is guilty and jailed
CHLOE Ayling last night hit back at the critics who doubted her kidnap story after the man who snatched her was found guilty and jailed.
Lukasz Herba, 30, got 16 years and nine months yesterday for keeping the 20-year-old former model hostage while demanding a £265,000 ransom.
The Pole claimed the kidnap plot was a publicity stunt set up by mum-of-one Chloe in a bid to make her famous. And photos of the pair shopping hand in hand after she was snatched led to speculation she was in on the act.
But an Italian court ruled the Brit was lured to a fake photoshoot in Milan, drugged, stuffed into a suitcase and taken to a remote alpine chalet where she was held for a week last July.
And Chloe said last night: “I’m so very happy this is all over. 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 now the world can see I was telling the truth.
“I am thankful to the superb Italian legal system for continually supporting my account of the events I experienced, when some seemed to doubt them, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.”
Chloe was awarded £53,000 in compensation and has a book due out, but her lawyer Francesco Pesce insisted she is not driven by cash. He added: “She’s not interested in money, she just wants to make sure everybody knows she was telling the truth from day one.”
Chloe’s agent Adrian Sington said: “This has been a burden on her in the face of criticism of her motivation and this is vindication, her story is true.
“It’s hard being painted as a liar and now she’s able to be able to say, ‘I know it’s a bizarre story but it’s a true one.’”
He revealed Chloe, from Coulsden, South London, is too scared to go back to modelling. Mr Sington added: “We’ll talk about what she does next, but it won’t be glamour modelling.
“She doesn’t trust the industry. The last job she did she was thrown in a case and bundled in the boot of a car. She thought she was going to die.”
Herba was found guilty of kidnap with the aim of extortion by a Milan court.
He claimed he had gone along with Chloe’s stunt because he was “in love” with her and said: “The whole scandal was invented to make her famous.”
But prosecutor Paolo Storari branded him a liar and narcissist.
Herba’s brother Michal, 37, was arrested in the UK and will be extradited to stand trial for his part in the snatch.
Chloe’s book Kidnapped: The Untold Story of My Abduction promises to “set the record straight” about her ordeal.
She has admitted she shared a bed with Herba but insisted she went along with his wishes, including the shopping trip, in the hope she would be freed.
Chloe was eventually handed over to the British consulate by Herba.