The manager of the British model who was kidnapped in Italy and held hostage for six days told his side of the story after the broadcast of the BBC drama, which recreated the ordeal.
During the trial, the Italian court would later hear that Herba injected Chloe with ketamine, handcuffed her and put her in a suitcase before driving her in the boot of his car to a house in Viu, near Turin.
A gang calling itself the Black Death Group demanded £270,000 or she would be sold as a sex slave on the dark web. But six days later, he arrived at the British consulate in Milan, although no ransom demand had been paid, the Mirror reported.
READ MORE: ‘Thank God maybe everything is okay,’ I thought. Then the police knocked on my door
Seven years since her ordeal, Chloe still faces doubts about her story and is accused of profiting from it and using it as a publicity tool. His former manager Phil Green, who is at the heart of the saga, thinks there is no way it could have been staged.
The booking was made through Phil’s Supermodel Agency in July 2017; however, the kidnapper had actually tried to book a shoot in Paris in March several months earlier.
Phil said: “I was contacted by a photographer called Andre Lazio about a motorbike shoot in Paris. He specifically asked for Chloe.
“I did my due diligence, asked questions about the job, looked at the website, asked where and when the shoot would take place, got the address of the studio and looked at samples of previous work. “I have been doing this job for 30 years and I always make the necessary checks, but it is impossible to predict something like this.”
Phil said: “All the boxes are ticked. The name of his studio was ‘Bellissmafique’. I even checked the address on Google maps. Chloe was more than happy to accept the job. He paid £900 in advance.”
Things went wrong when he went to France in April. Phil said: “I turned on the TV and saw there was a terrorist attack in Paris, a police officer had been killed. Horrified, I called Chloe immediately. “He said he heard sirens outside, so I told him to stay at the hotel.”
The next morning the photographer called and said that his studio had been ransacked and the shooting had been stopped. Herba later visited the hotel to give Chloe £90 in expenses to see him for the day.
Phil said: “A few days later he emailed to apologize, saying he had left Paris because it was too dangerous to return to Milan.”
He then rebooked Chloe for work on July 11. Phil said: “We discussed all the details again and he paid. We even discussed sizes so he could buy her leather. He sent pictures of his new studio with the same sign ‘Bellissmafique’.”
Chloe arrived in Italy on July 10, and Phil spoke to her as she went out to dinner that night.
The photo shoot was supposed to take place at 8.30am on the 11th, but that evening he received a frantic call from Chloe’s mother. He said: “I’ve never spoken to him before. He was worried that Chloe hadn’t been in touch. I texted the photographer and tried to call but it was late and I didn’t get a response.
“I checked with the airline and saw that he had not boarded the flight. Chloe had a photo shoot in Ibiza on July 13th and I thought she might have gone straight there. “I tried to call him, but his phone rang with a foreign ringtone.”
The next morning, July 12, Chloe told her mother to call the police and then received the shocking ransom email around 10am.
The message read: “We have Chloe and we are the Black Death Group. “If you don’t pay us by Sunday, it will be auctioned and sold to the Russian mafia.”
The email also included the names of three wealthy businessmen who could pay the ransom. Phil said: “I was told they could be approached to get the money. The names must have come from Chloe, people she knew from work because she knew I didn’t have the money. After I saw that email I was frozen in place. I’d never seen anything like it before. I was in complete shock.”
He immediately called the police in Milan but was told he had to report a missing person in person. “My next call was to the British consulate in Milan, they took the matter very seriously. “They said they would involve the State Department special crimes unit.”
She then received a call from the Met Police, who had been contacted by Chloe’s mother. “I told them I had it and they passed it on to my local force in the East Midlands. “The police almost never came to my house.
“They intercepted all my emails and handled all my communications with the kidnappers. It was a slow process, there could be hours between messages from Italy. They checked everything, gave me updates but kept all the details to themselves.
“For the better part of a week, I had very senior officers in my house 24/7, specially trained in negotiation. “They were very calm and very professional.”
While at his home, police received an email with pictures of Chloe in the bag. During negotiations the kidnapping gang were demanding £270,000, but police told them they could only afford £20,000.
“It was terrible. “I didn’t know what I could do to help,” Phil said. “This went on for days, but on Sunday they confirmed they were withdrawing due to developments in Italy. They told me Chloe was safe and well. It was very reassuring.”
Chloe had to stay in Italy for a while to give her statement, but Phil later paid for her flight back to England. However, when she returned home, she turned her back on him and signed with an advertising agency in London.
She said: “It’s disappointing this has happened after everything I’ve done for her throughout her modeling career, but what can you do?”
He added: “Chloe said she hoped the show would stop people questioning her.
“Chloe was accused of faking the kidnapping, using it as a publicity stunt. I don’t think this will ever change, online conspiracy theories never die.
“I was there when it happened and it was very frightening to me, it’s not believable that it was stage directed.”
“But his behavior after his release made it seem like he was loving all the attention. All press and TV interviews go to Celebrity Big Brother. “He made some bad decisions in my opinion, people thought he was just in it for the money.”
Of the media attention at the time, Chloe told the BBC: “It was so big and impressive, but I was just happy to be home, happy to be done with it. So why shouldn’t I smile?”
The person who kidnapped her was found guilty of kidnapping and sentenced to 16 years and 9 months in prison, which was later reduced to 12 years and 1 month.
During the investigation, Herba’s brother Michał Konrad Herba, who runs a transport logistics company, was also arrested. Email and forensic evidence linked him to the case and he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for one month, which was reduced to 5 years and 8 months on appeal.
Phil added that even seven years after the kidnapping, he still received many offers to enlist Chloe for modeling work. And he said he believes he was targeted after he was spotted on social media and his followers on Instagram increased.
“Models put everything out there. I have no doubt that the attacker was a follower on Instagram. They saw how many followers he had and thought they could get a higher ransom. “I think it’s a bit dangerous, you don’t know who’s watching you and controlling you.”
Speaking about his kidnapping drama, Phil said he felt like some things were unfair.
He said: “I had very little empathy for Chloe and they were very unsympathetic towards me. But that wasn’t a big surprise.
“There were no scenes showing all the work I had done to help, all the people I called, all the extensive conversations with officials in Italy and the UK. “I know it says in the credits that the characters are used for dramatic purposes, but I don’t think that’s fair.”
A BBC spokesman said: “The production team carried out extensive research, drawing on Chloe Ayling’s book, court transcripts and interviews with Chloe and others including lawyers, police officers and Phil Green.”