True Crime Collection

The Abduction of Chloe Ayling

Chloe, from Coulsdon and aged 20 at the time of the incident, was working in London for Phil Green's Supermodel Agency. In March 2017, Phil, a lawyer and part time DJ, had previously brokered a failed photo shoot in Paris for Chloe 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 Chloe was on a photo shoot in Dubai, Phil was contacted again by Andre, requesting another attempt at the photo shoot in Milan on 12th July.

When Chloe did not return to the UK via Gatwick that night, her mother contacted Phil. The next morning, Phil received a ransom email, ostensibly from The Black Death Group and written by "MD" demanding €300,000 or else Chloe would be auctioned off as a sex slave on the dark web on 16th July. Phil 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 Chloe's clothes, and, in the absence of other evidence or emails, the investigation stalled. However, after 6 days, on Monday 17th July, Chloe and Lukasz turned up together at the Milan consulate, and suspicion quickly fell on the couple after CCTV footage of them together in public emerged.

At his trial, the Italian court heard that Lukasz had injected Chloe with ketamine, handcuffed and put her in a holdall bag, and drove her in the boot of a car to a house in Viù near Turin. Throughout the kidnapping, Lukasz had used his MD alias to try and befriend Chloe by manipulating the events of the kidnapping and the fictional auction. Lukasz claimed in his defence that he had fallen in love with Chloe and was trying to promote her career by creating a scandal. On 11th June 2018, Lukasz was convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to 16 years and 9 months in prison; Lukasz said in the closing statement of his trial that he was inspired after watching the movie By Any Means.

Shortly into the investigation, Lukasz brother, Michal Herba, 37, who runs a transport logistics company called Her Trans Logistics Limited, was also arrested. Michal Herba, who denies any involvement, it alleged to have participated in the kidnapping given the presence of an accomplice. Based on email and DNA evidence, he was extradited from the UK in October 2018, and is currently standing trial in the case.

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.

Chloe and Phil both wrote memoirs of the events. The British media, in particular, were quick to suspect the kidnapping was a publicity stunt, although it later became clear from Chloe's testimony that she was not involved. Chloe has also been criticised in the media for leveraging the event for the benefit of her career.