Chloe Ayling’s agent tells truth about ‘horror’ abduction after 7 years of fake claims

Chloe Ayling was drugged, kidnapped and held captive in a secluded Italian cabin in 2017 – and people are still talking about the shocking case.

A group known as the Black Death Group demanded a ransom of £270,000, threatening to sell her as a sex slave on the dark web. However, she appeared at the British consulate in Milan six days later, despite no ransom being paid.

Seven years on from her terrifying experience, Chloe continues to face scepticism about her account, with accusations of exploiting the situation for profit and publicity. Her former agent, Phil Green, who was deeply involved in the incident, has now given his thoughts.

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Chloe’s ordeal has been transformed into a six-part BBC drama, Kidnapped, featuring Adrian Edmondson as Phil. The abduction occurred after Chloe, then a 20-year-old glamour model, was tricked into attending a bogus photo shoot in Milan.

She was imprisoned by Lukasz Herba, a 30-year-old Polish computer programmer from Oldbury, West Midlands, who was subsequently jailed, reports the Mirror.

During the trial, the Italian court heard that Herba had injected Chloe with ketamine, handcuffed her and stuffed her into a suitcase before driving her to a house in Viu, near Turin, in the boot of his car. The booking in Milan was made through Phil’s Supermodel Agency in July 2017.

However, Herba had initially booked Chloe a few months prior, in March, for a Paris shoot – which Phil suspects may have been his first attempted kidnapping.

Phil revealed: “I was contacted by a photographer called Andre Lazio about a motorbike shoot in Paris. He specifically asked for Chloe.”

Speaking about his process, he added: “I carried out due diligence, asked questions about the job, checked his website, asked where and when shoot would take place, got the address of the studio and checked examples of previous work. I’ve been doing this job for 30 years and I always carry out all the necessary checks, but there’s no way you could predict something like this.”

Phil continued: “All the boxes were ticked. His studio was called ‘Bellissmafique’. I even checked the address on Google maps. Chloe was more than happy to take the job. He paid £900 up front.”

However, when she hit French soil in April, disaster struck. Phil recounted: “I turned on TV and saw there had been a terror attack in Paris, a policeman had been killed. I was horrified, I called Chloe straight away. She said she could hear sirens outside and I told her to stay in the hotel.”

The photoshoot the following day was cancelled after the photogrpaher claimed his studio had been ransacked. Herba even showed up at the hotel to hand Chloe £90 for expenses.

Phil recounted booking Chloe for another gig on July 11, explaining: “We discussed all the details again and he paid up. We even discussed sizes so he could get leathers in for her. He sent pictures of his new studio with the same ‘Bellissmafique’ sign.”

Chloe touched down in Italy on July 10 and checked into the Hotel Galles in Milan. Phil spoke to her on the phone that evening before she went out for a meal.

Chloe was supposed to be snapping pics at 8.30am on the July 11, but in a twist, Phil got a call from Chloe’s frightened mum that evening. He shared: “I’d never spoken to her before. She was worried Chloe hadn’t been in touch. I sent messages to the photographer and tried to call but it was late and I received no answer.

“I checked with the airline and she hadn’t boarded the flight. Chloe had a photoshoot in Ibiza on July 13 and I thought she might have gone straight there. I tried to call her but her phone rang through with foreign ringtone.”

Come July 12, Phil told Chloe’s mum to get the police involved before a sinister email was delivered.

The message read: “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 listed three rich businessmen who could potentially foot the ransom bill. Phil revealed: “It said they could be approached to get the money. The names must have come from Chloe, people she knew through work, because she knew I didn’t have the money. After seeing that email I was just frozen to the spot. I had never seen anything like that before. I was in total shock.”

He promptly rang the police in Milan, but was informed he had to report a missing person in person.

Phil said: “My next call was to the British consulate in Milan, they took it very seriously. They said they would get the Foreign Office special crimes unit involved.”

Next, he received a call from the Met Police – who had been alerted by Chloe’s mum and he remembered: “I told them what I had received and they passed it to my local force in the East Midlands. In virtually no time at all the police were at my house.

“They took over all my emails and dealt with all contact with the kidnappers. They were using my email to contact them, the police were in the house syphoning the emails and responding to their demands. It was a slow process, there could be hours and hours between messages from Italy. They controlled everything, they did give me updates, but they kept the full details to themselves.

“There were very senior officers in my house 24/7 for the best part of a week, they are specially trained in negotiating. They were very calm, very professional.”

While the police were conducting a search at his residence, they received an email containing images of Chloe inside a suitcase. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of £270,000 during negotiations, but the police could only offer £20,000.

Phil said: “It was dreadful. I didn’t know what I could do to help. It went on for days, but then on the Sunday they confirmed they were standing down as there had been developments in Italy. They told me Chloe was safe and well. They didn’t give me all the terrible details, but it was such a relief.”

Chloe remained in Italy for some time to provide her statement, but Phil later covered the cost of her flight back to the UK. However, upon her return, she distanced herself from him and signed with a London publicity agent.

Phil expressed his thoughts on the Kidnapped drama, where Nadia Parkes portrays Chloe, stating that he felt certain aspects were unjust.

He said: “There was little shown in the way of my empathy towards Chloe, and were very unsympathetic towards me, but that didn’t really come as a surprise.

“There were no scenes depicting all the work I did to help, all the contacts I called, all the extensive conversations with the authorities in Italy and the UK, including the Police Special Operations, the British Consulate office in Milan and the British Foreign Office. I know it says on the credits characters are used for dramatic purposes, but I don’t think it was fair.”

He added: “Chloe has said she hopes the show will stop people from questioning her. Chloe has been accused of faking the abduction, using it as a publicity stunt. I don’t think that will ever change, online conspiracy theories never die.

“I was there during the time when it happened and it was terrifying for me, it beggars belief that it was stage managed.”

After Chloe’s kidnapping nightmare Phil revealed she opted for a new agent.

Phil said: “It was disappointing when that happened after all I’d done for her during her modelling career, but what can you do?

“But the way she behaved after being released, it looked like she loved all the attention. All the press and TV interviews, going on Celebrity Big Brother. In my view she made some bad decisions, people thought she was just in it for the money.”

Her kidnapper Herba was jailed for 16 years and nine months, his sentence later slashed to 12 years and one month.

During the investigation, Herba’s brother Micha Konrad Herba, who handled a haulage firm, was also punished. Email and CSI evidence dragged him into the fray and he copped a 16-year stretch, which was whittled down to five years and eight months on appeal.

Phil disclosed that even seven years post-kidnapping, offers to book Chloe for shoots are still flooding in.

He said: “Models put everything up there. I have no doubt that the attacker was a follower on Instagram. They saw how many followers she had and in their minds thought they could attract a higher ransom. I think it is a little bit dangerous, you don’t know who is watching you, checking up on you.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the BBC said: “The production team carried out extensive research, drawing on Chloe Ayling’s book, court transcripts and interviews with Chloe and other individuals including lawyers, police officers, and Phil Green.”

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk