A new BBC documentary is set to air tonight on BBC Three following the chilling true story of model Chloe Ayling, who was deceived into travelling to Milan for what she believed was a photoshoot. Chloe, from Coulsdon, Croydon, is seen in the documentary telling the story of her 2017 abduction first-hand, as she tries to come to terms with what happened.
Chloe’s trip in 2017 turned into a nightmare that made headlines. Chloe, then just 20, was drugged with ketamine, stuffed into a suitcase, and held captive for six days before her kidnappers released her to the British consulate.
But her ordeal didn’t end there. Her kidnapping sparked a flurry of conspiracy theories, with some doubting her story despite her attackers receiving a combined sentence of 32 years in prison.
Who is Chloe Ayling?
Chloe was a model living in Coulsdon, Croydon, at the time of her kidnapping. She had been working in the industry for two years, since age 18.
You might also remember her from Celebrity Big Brother in 2018 – the year following her kidnapping – although she only lasted 13 days before becoming the second contestant to be evicted. You may also recall her friendship with former footballer Jermaine Pennant, who claimed he was single despite having married Alice Goodwin four years earlier. He was spotted kissing Chloe on the thigh in the house.
Chloe only discovered the ex-Arsenal star’s marital status after leaving the house, branding him as “disgusting”. In a chat with the Sun Online, she criticised his emotional immaturity. “I don’t think he’s mature enough to realise he’s doing wrong but hopefully he will learn,” she expressed.
What is Chloe doing now?
These days, Chloe is a devoted mum to her son Ashton, who she had with her former partner Conor Keyes. She is still a model and published a book about her ordeal, Kidnapped: The Untold Story of my Abduction, in 2018.
According to her social media accounts, Chloe also shares content through an OnlyFans page and owns ‘multiple properties’.
What happened to Chloe in Milan?
In 2017, Chloe, then 20, believed she was off to Italy for an innocent photoshoot. However, her life took a terrifying turn when she was kidnapped.
She was injected with ketamine, bundled into a suitcase and driven to a farmhouse near Turin in northern Italy. There, Chloe was held hostage, with a ransom email sent to the head of her modelling agency, Phil Green, demanding €300,000 (£260,000) or else she would be ‘sold as a sex slave on the dark web’.
For the first few days Chloe was handcuffed to furniture, before her abductor asked her if he wanted to ‘share his bed’. Eventually, one of Chloe’s friends she had met while socialising in London, Rory McCarthy, offered to pay £20,000 for her release. Six days post her abduction, she was set free.
The kidnapper intended to walk into the consulate with her where she would claim she had escaped her abductor. The plan fell through. “The police were like, ‘OK, what’s his phone number?’ And I didn’t know it… They obviously knew [I was making it up]. They’re not stupid,” she revealed to The Guardian.
Who were her abductors and what became of them?
On 11 June 2018, Lukasz Herba was found guilty of kidnapping and sentenced to 16 years in prison. However, in 2020 his sentence was reduced to just over 11 years after a judge ruled he ”acted out of love”.
His brother Michal Herba was also given a 16-year prison sentence, but this was reduced to five years following an appeal. During the trial, Lukasz Herba told the court he was in love with Chloe.
He said: “I never hurt the girl. I was not violent with her. If she felt forced verbally in any way, I am very sorry. But it certainly was not as Chloe has described. I was in love and I was hoping that once her fame took off she would repay me with feelings and we would share the money.”
After the initial sentencing, Chloe told The Sun: “I am very pleased and relieved by the outcome of the hearing and feel that justice has been served and I can get closure on what has been a terrible time for me. I am desperate to put this ordeal behind me, move on with my life and forge a new path now that the world can see I was telling the truth.”
Why didn’t some people believe her?
Interviewed in the immediate aftermath of the kidnapping, Chloe appeared happy and calm, leading some conspiracy theorists to question her case. It also came to light during the trial that Chloe had mistakenly missed some crucial elements out of her testimony, including the fact that she was seen ‘shoe shopping’ hand-in-hand with her captor on CCTV.
When asked about the incident, Chloe told the Guardian: “It was so bad. I was shocked. I had just spent 12 hours giving as much detail as I can, and there’s one thing I don’t mention. I broke down.” She added that this wasn’t because she thought she had ‘messed up’. She continued: “No, I just thought, I’ve given so much information, even though I’m in so much danger, but at the end of the day, you’re not going to believe me. I was angry and frustrated for not mentioning something so minor.”
Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping airs tonight at 9pm on BBC Three
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