Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Police took control of computer to hunt down kidnap gang
THE modelling agent in the Chloe Ayling kidnap case today reveals how police posed as him in a covert bid to track down her captors.
Detectives raced to his office and took over his emails after he received a chilling message that his 20-year-old model was to be sold to the Russian Mafia as a sex slave.
Specialist officers spent five days in tense negotiations with the Black Death Group who snatched Chloe at a photoshoot in Milan, stuffed her in a suitcase and held her at a farmhouse for six days.
Speaking of the first dramatic hours of the abduction for the first time, Mr Green reveals how he was duped by suspected kidnap organiser Lukasz Herba.
He tells how the ‘Italian photographer’ who contacted him to book her for the photoshoot was so convincing he passed all his safety checks.
The agent also believes mum-of-one Chloe, now safely back home in Coulsdon, South London, came to the attention of the Dark Web gang because of her soaring Instagram following online. He says: “In the last year her followers were rising and rising. She had 150,000. I think that is a factor. Models put everything up there, locations, times of shoots, you can pinpoint where they are.
“They leave themselves open to being pursued.”
Mr Green, 50, met
Chloe a year ago after she contacted his Supermodel
Agency seeking work. Her career took off, earning her up to £50,000 a year.
In March, he received an email from an Italian photographer.
“He called himself Andre
Lazio and wanted to book a motorbike shoot in Paris.
“He asked for Chloe,” says the agent. “I carried out due diligence, asked questions about the job, checked his website, asked where and when the shoot would take place, got the address of the studio and checked examples of his previous work. All
the boxes were ticked. I’ve been doing this job for 30 years and I always carry out checks – but there’s no way you could predict something like this.
“His studio was called Bellissmafique. I even checked the address on Google maps. Chloe was more than happy to take the job. And he paid £900 up front.”
But when she travelled to France in April, things went dramatically wrong. Mr Green says: “I saw on TV there had been terror attack in Paris, a policeman had been killed. I called Chloe straight away and told her to stay in her hotel.”
The next morning the photographer called and said his studio had been ransacked and the shoot was off. Herba then visited her at her hotel to give her £90 expenses for the day.
Mr Green says: “The photographer emailed me a couple of days later to apologise, but he later booked Chloe again for July 11. We discussed all the details again and he paid up. We even discussed sizes so he could get leathers for her. He sent pictures of his new studio with the same ‘Bellissmafique’ sign.” Chloe arrived in Milan on July 10 and stayed in the Hotel Galles in the centre. The shoot was due to take place at 8.30am on the 11th. That night Mr Green received a frantic call from Chloe’s mum.
WORRIED
He says: “I’d never spoken to her before. She was worried Chloe hadn’t been in touch. I sent messages to the photographer and called him but got no answer. I checked with the airline but Chloe hadn’t boarded the flight back to the UK. I then called her but her phone rang out.”
Next morning, worried Mr Green told Chloe’s mum to call the police. Then at about 10am he received the chilling ransom email.
It said: “We have Chloe and we are the
Black Death Group. Unless you pay money to us by Sunday she will be put to auction where she may get sold to the Russian mafia.”
The email also contained the names of three wealthy businessmen – celebrity agent Dave Read, 50, former Loaded magazine publisher Paul Baxendale-Walker, 53, and investment banker Rory McCarthy, 57.
Mr Green says: “I was frozen to the spot. It said they could be approached to get the money. The names must have come from Chloe.”
He called the British consulate in Milan. “They said they would get the Foreign Office special crimes unit involved.” Mr Green then received a call from the Met police, who had been contacted by Chloe’s mum.
“I told them what I had received and they passed it to my local force in the East Midlands. In no time at all the police were at my office.
“They took over all my emails and dealt with all contact with the kidnappers. They controlled everything. They were specially trained in negotiating, very calm, very professional.”
While the police were there they received an email with pictures of drugged Chloe flat out on the floor. During the negotiations the kidnap gang demanded £270,000, but the police, posing as Mr Green, told them £20,000 was as high as they could go.
“It was dreadful. I didn’t know what I could do to help,” says Mr Green. “They were in my office for days, but then on the Sunday they said they were standing down as there had been developments in Italy. They told me Chloe was safe. It was such a relief.”
Herba, 30, of Oldbury, West Midlands, had been arrested taking Chloe to the British Consulate.
Mr Green paid for Chloe’s flight back to the UK, but he says once she was back home she signed with a London publicity agent. “I feel aggrieved she has done this,” he says.
“I was speaking to her last Sunday on how to deal with everything, but when I rang her mum I was told someone else was representing her.
“I wish her all the best, but I hope this doesn’t come back to bite her.”
The email said Chloe would be sold to the Russian mafia. I was frozen to the spot
MODELLING AGENT PHIL GREEN ON CHLOE KIDNAP DRAMA