Oddball suspect who carried a rat around
THE suspect held over the kidnap of model Chloe Ayling is an oddball with a pet rat he carries on his shoulder, neighbours said yesterday.
Lukasz Herba, 30, is believed to have plotted the audacious crime from a two-bedroom flat in Tividale, near Dudley, West Midlands.
Neighbours said the Pole appeared to leave for work each morning in a suit – but returned repeatedly throughout the day in a battered red Toyota, sometimes carrying the rodent on his shoulder.
The second-floor flat he is believed to share with his brother was raided by police on July 18, a week after 20-year-old Miss Ayling was abducted after being lured to Milan to take part in a fake photoshoot. Neighbour Ciaran Williams, 33, a carpenter, said: ‘Every half hour or 40 minutes he’d come back.
‘I didn’t think much of it at the time, but in hindsight it was a bit weird and shifty. He’d also carry a rat around with him sometimes.’
Another resident, 23-year-old model Sinead Boyce, said: ‘He’s a crazy bloke, he really is.
‘He kept himself to himself a lot, I don’t think we ever got a word out of him. We’d see him from time-totime carrying this rat on his shoulder. He’d take it to the corner shop and all sorts.’ Other homeowners said Lukasz, from Szczecin in northern Poland, has not been seen at the council property for at least three weeks. One said they saw Herba’s brother in the foyer of the block with a big bag. The neighbour said: ‘I asked him what he was doing and he said he was moving out.’
Italian police said Herba had used the name Daniel Zawada on at least one passport they confiscated.
On his Facebook page, he lists motorbikes, American ‘muscle cars’ and online computer games amongst his ‘likes’.
He also displays the logo of a mysterious online ‘technology trade’ firm as his banner picture.
Officers from West Midlands and Derbyshire carried out the early morning raid on his flat last month. Police reportedly found photos of the model and documents on Herba’s phone and computer.