Eight years on from her harrowing ordeal, Chloe Ayling, who was kidnapped by Lukasz Herba, has asked what makes her story ‘so unbelievable’ in a new BBC documentary
A British model who was abducted has questioned why her story was deemed “so unbelievable” in a moving documentary aired last night.
Looking straight into the lens, Chloe Ayling queried: “What is it about me and my story that makes this so unbelievable?” at the outset of the BBC programme Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping. She posed the question as the documentary later revealed that people still doubt her account – eight years on.
This scepticism persists despite the incarceration of Lukasz Herba, a 30 year old Polish computer programmer from Oldbury, West Midlands, who drugged, kidnapped and transported Chloe 120 miles to a secluded farmhouse near Turin, where she was held captive for a week.
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The programme underscored how Chloe, then just 20, was dismissed as a gold-digger seeking fame. She was persuaded by her agent to travel to Milan for a modelling gig, but this turned out to be a sham and a trap set by Herba to ensnare Chloe.
Herba was ready to snatch the glamour model from behind and stuff her into a suitcase. Drugged with ketamine and chained to furniture, she was made to sleep on the floor of a remote farmhouse, reports the Mirror.
Photos of her lying unconscious in scanty attire were sent to her manager in London, along with a demand for €300,000 (£260,000). If the ransom wasn’t paid within a week, she would be sold off as a sex slave.
Despite her eventual release, Chloe faced a further struggle to rebuild her life as many doubted her harrowing account. Reflecting on her childhood in the documentary, 28 year old Chloe said: “I had a lot of difficulties with communication… I’d react in the wrong way. If I was being told off I would smile. I just had the wrong reactions to things.”
The model, hailing from Croydon, south London, revealed that she has since been diagnosed with autism, something she believes sheds light on not only her responses during her kidnapping ordeal, but also her life before and after.
In last night’s TV programme, the mum added: “Autism plays a big part in the way that I reacted, and that was confusing to neurotypical people… People disassociate with events that have happened or have a delayed reaction, especially after trauma. So, it can’t all be put down to a diagnosis, and that shouldn’t affect the way people treated me.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
