The Celebrity Big Brother contestant’s former agent Phil Green claims: ‘The way she behaved after being released, it looked like she loved all the attention’
The story of beautiful model Chloe Ayling being drugged, kidnapped, and held hostage for six days in a remote Italian cabin was what captivated the nation.
She was threatened with being sold as a sex slave on the dark web if she didn’t pay £270,000 to a group they called the Black Death Group. She turned up at the British consulate in Milan six days later, despite no ransom being requested.
In the a long time since her trial Chloe actually faces questions about her story, being blamed for benefitting from it and involving it as an exposure stunt. Phil Green, her former agent, believes that it could not have been staged. He was at the center of the saga.
Kidnapped is a six-part BBC drama about Chloe’s ordeal, starring Adrian Edmondson as Phil. After glamour model Chloe, then 20 years old, was enticed to Milan for a fictitious photo shoot, the kidnapping occurred.
Lukasz Herba, a 30-year-old Polish computer programmer from Oldbury, West Midlands, held her captive and was later imprisoned.
During the trial, the Italian court heard that Herba had given Chloe ketamine, handcuffed her, and put her in a suitcase before driving her in the trunk of his car to a house in Viu, near Turin. Phil’s Supermodel Agency secured the Milan contract in July 2017.
However, in March, Herba had booked Chloe for a Paris shoot, which Phil believes may have been his first planned abduction attempt.
Phil stated, A photographer by the name of Andre Lazio contacted me regarding a Paris motorcycle shoot. He requested Chloe specifically.
“I did my homework, asked questions about the job, looked at his website, found the studio’s address, checked examples of previous work, and asked where and when the shoot would take place. Even though I’ve been doing this job for thirty years and always carry out all of the necessary checks, you can’t possibly anticipate something like this.
Phil stated, The boxes were all checked. The name of his studio was “Bellissmafique.” I even used Google Maps to check the address. Chloe accepted the position enthusiastically. He paid £900 in advance.
Things went wrong when she went to France in April. Phil stated, When I turned on the television, I saw that a policeman had been killed in a terrorist attack in Paris. I immediately called Chloe after being horrified. I advised her to remain in the hotel after she stated that she could hear sirens outside.
The photographer called the following morning to say that the shoot had been canceled because his studio had been ransacked. Herba then went to the hotel to give Chloe £90 toward her day’s expenses.
Phil stated, A few days later, he sent an email to apologize, stating that he was leaving Paris because Milan was too dangerous to return to.
On July 11, he booked Chloe for the job once more. Phil stated, He paid up after we went over each and every detail once more. We even talked about sizes so he could get her leathers. With the same “Bellissmafique” sign, he sent pictures of his new studio.
Chloe stayed at the Hotel Galles in the heart of Milan when she arrived in Italy on July 10. That evening, as she was leaving for a meal, Phil spoke to her.
On the 11th, the photo shoot was supposed to begin at 8.30 a.m., but that evening, Chloe’s mother called him in a panic. He stated, ” I hadn’t talked to her before. She was concerned about Chloe’s absence. I tried calling the photographer and leaving messages, but it was too late and I didn’t hear back.
“I checked with the airline and she had not boarded the flight,”. On July 13, Chloe went to Ibiza for a photo shoot. I thought she might have gone right there. I tried to call her, but the ringtone on her phone was foreign.
He instructed Chloe’s mother to call the police the following morning, July 12, and around 10 a.m., he received the shocking ransom email.
The message began: We are the Black Death Group, and we have Chloe. She will be put up for auction, where she might be sold to the Russian mafia if you don’t pay us in full by Sunday.
The email also included the names of three wealthy businessmen who might be able to pay the ransom. Phil stated, It stated that the money could be obtained from them. Because Chloe was aware that I lacked the funds, the names of people she knew from work must have come from her. When I saw that email, I was frozen in place. That was the first thing I had ever seen. I was completely stunned.
He immediately contacted the Milan police, but was told he had to personally report a missing person. The British consulate in Milan took my subsequent call very seriously. They stated that they would involve the Foreign Office’s special crimes unit.
The Met Police, who had been contacted by Chloe’s mother, then called him. They informed my local East Midlands force of the information I had received. The police arrived at my house in a very short time.
“They took over all of my emails and dealt with every contact with the kidnappers,”
The police were in the house syphoning the emails and responding to their demands, and they were contacting me through my email. It was a slow process, and messages from Italy could take hours to arrive. Although they did provide me with updates, they kept the entire information to themselves and controlled everything.
“For the better part of a week, very senior officers were in my house around the clock; they are specially trained in negotiating. They were extremely professional and calm.
Photos of Chloe in the suitcase were sent to the police via email while they were at his house. The kidnapping gang was demanding £270,000 during the negotiations, but the police informed them that they could only afford £20,000.
It was horrible. I wasn’t sure how I could help. It went on for days, but on Sunday, they said they were stepping down because of what was happening in Italy. They informed me that Chloe was fine and safe. Although they did not provide me with every terrible detail, it was such a relief.
Chloe had to stay in Italy for a while in order to give her statement, but Phil later paid for her flight back to the UK.
But when she got back to her house, she left him and signed with a publicity agent in London.
Phil stated that he thought some things were unfair when discussing the drama Kidnapped, in which Nadia Parkes plays Chloe.
He stated, ” This didn’t really come as a surprise because I didn’t show much empathy for Chloe and they were very unfriendly to me.
“There were no scenes that showed all of the things I did to help, all of the people I talked to, and all of the long conversations I had with authorities in Italy and the UK, like the Police Special Operations, the British Consulate in Milan, and the British Foreign Office.
“I know that it says on the credits that characters are used for dramatic purposes, but I don’t think it was fair,” the author asserts.
He continued: Chloe has stated that she hopes the show will deter questions about her.
“Chloe has been accused of fabricating the kidnapping for publicity purposes. That won’t change, and online conspiracy theories never go away.
“I was there when it happened, and it was terrifying for me; it beggars belief that it was stage managed,” said the person who was there at the time. Phil stated that Chloe signed with a different agent following the kidnapping ordeal.
He stated, ” After all that I had done for her throughout her modeling career, it was disappointing when that happened, but what can you do?
“However, the way she behaved after being released gave the impression that she cherished the attention in general. Celebrity Big Brother-related interviews with the media and television. People believed she was just in it for the money, and I think she made some poor decisions.
Herba was found guilty of kidnapping and given a sentence of 16 years, 9 months, which was later reduced to 12 years, 1 month.
Herba’s brother Micha Konrad Herba, who owned a transport logistics company, was also arrested during the investigation. He was linked to the case by email and forensic evidence, and he was given a sentence of 16 years and one month. On appeal, he was reduced to 5 years and 8 months.
“Models put everything up there.” The attacker was unquestionably an Instagram user. They thought they could get a higher ransom because they saw how many followers she had. You never know who is watching you and keeping an eye on you, which makes it a little bit risky, in my opinion.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: Using Chloe Ayling’s book, court transcripts, and interviews with her, lawyers, police officers, and Phil Green, the production team conducted extensive research.”
