The abduction of Chloe Ayling occurred in July 2017 while Ayling, a British page 3 model, had travelled to Milan, Italy for a fake photo-shoot. There, she was abducted by two individuals claiming to be members of a criminal organisation called The Black Death Group. In June 2018, Lukasz Herba, a Polish national from the United Kingdom, was convicted in a Milan court of the kidnapping and sentenced to 16 years and nine months in prison. In 2021, the 16-year sentence of Michal Herba was reduced on appeal to 5 years and 8 months. The sentence of Lukasz Herba had already been reduced, in 2020, to 12 years and 1 month.

Abduction

Ayling, from

Coulsdon Coulsdon (, traditionally pronounced ) is a town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon, in the ceremonial county of Greater London since 1965. Prior to this it was part of the historic county of Surrey. History The l ...

and aged 20 at the time of the incident, was working in London for Phil Green's ''Supermodel Agency''. In March 2017, Green, a lawyer and part-time DJ, had previously brokered a failed photo-shoot in Paris for Ayling which was later revealed to have been a scheme organised by Lukasz Herba, a 30-year-old Polish computer programmer from Oldbury, West Midlands, under the alias "Andre Lazio". In July 2017, while Ayling was on a photo-shoot in Dubai, Green was contacted again by Lazio, requesting another attempt at the photo-shoot in Milan on 12 July. When Ayling did not return to the UK via

Gatwick Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Hea ...

that night, her mother contacted Green. The next morning, Green received a ransom email, ostensibly from The Black Death Group and written by "MD" (another Herba alias) demanding €300,000 or else Ayling would be

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

ed off as a sex-slave on the

dark web The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on ''darknets'': overlay networks that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. Through the dark web, private computer networks can communi ...

on 16 July. Green then contacted the UK consulate in Milan for support. Italian police then visited the address, which turned out to not be a photo studio at all. Inside, they found some of Ayling's clothes, and, in the absence of other evidence or emails, the investigation stalled. However, after six days, on Monday 17 July, Ayling and Herba turned up together at the Milan consulate, and suspicion quickly fell on the couple after CCTV footage of them together in public emerged.

Convictions

At his trial, the Italian court heard that Herba had injected Ayling with

ketamine Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used medically for induction and maintenance of anesthesia. It is also used as a recreational drug. It is one of the safest anesthetics, as, in contrast with opiates, ether, and propofol, it suppresses ne ...

(as evidenced by an injection mark and traces of the drug in her hair), handcuffed her, put her in a

holdall In American English, a gym bag or carryall is a large bag made of cloth or leather typically with a rectangular base and a zippered opening at the top. Two handles enable the bag to be carried, and a (usually removable) strap lets the user suppor ...

bag, and driven her in the

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is cle ...

of a car to a house in

Viù Viù is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italy, Italian region Piedmont, located about northwest of Turin. Viù's central square used to feature a wooden statue of Pinocchio, which is 6.53 meters tall and weig ...

near

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. Throughout the kidnapping, Herba had used his MD alias to try to befriend Ayling by manipulating the events of the kidnapping and the fictional auction. Herba claimed in his defence that he had fallen in love with Ayling and was trying to promote her career by creating a scandal. On 11 June 2018, Herba was convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to 16 years and nine months in prison; Herba said in the closing statement of his trial that he was inspired after watching the movie '' By Any Means''. Shortly into the investigation, Herba's brother, Michał Konrad Herba, who ran a transport logistics company called ''Her Trans Logistics Limited'', was also arrested. Michał, who denied any involvement, allegedly participated in the kidnapping. Based on email and forensic evidence (his hair was found in the car's boot), he was extradited from the UK to Italy in October 2018. Michal was convicted in 2019 and sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison. Both Herba brothers had their sentences reduced on appeal.

Aftermath

The case brought attention to "The Black Death Group", an organisation alleged to exist in Eastern Europe and operating on the dark web over frequently-changing URLs. The group was investigated by Interpol in 2015. The group is known to have posted images of captives for sale; however, those postings are largely considered to be fake, since further investigation determined that they were taken from a pornographic film. Ayling and Green both wrote memoirs of the events. The British media, in particular, were quick to suspect the kidnapping was a

publicity stunt In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utilize ...

. Ayling has also been criticised in the media for leveraging the event for the benefit of her career. In April 2023,

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

announced a new six-part drama based on the abduction, entitled ''Kidnapped'' (working title), written by Georgia Lester and made with the blessing of Ayling herself.

References

External links

*{{IMDb name, 9190317, Chloe Ayling Kidnappings in Italy Underground culture Dark web Human commodity auctions July 2017 events in Italy July 2017 crimes in Europe