No one believed Chloe Ayling's sex slave ordeal. Now she knows why
Ayling was the first victim of the 'mid-high level contract killer' �ukasz Herba, a 30-year-old Polish computer programmer who lived in the UK, described 'a fantasist with narcissistic tendencies' in court.
But despite her horror ordeal, which saw the glamour model from London held captive for six days after jetting to Italy for a fake job in Milan, many cast doubt over her shocking story.
Some struggled to believe Ayling when she said she was able to convince her kidnapper – who had a bounty on her head of $300,000 – to release her by 'getting him to like me'.
Herba did set her free, and even drove her back to Milan, leaving her outside the UK consulate, which only fuelled the vicious rumours further.
Further doubt was cast when Ayling fronted a pack of waiting media outside her home, smiling as she read out a short, pre-written statement about her living nightmare.
Even when her captor was jailed in Italy for 16 years for the kidnap and extortion, a year after the headline-hitting abduction, suspicions didn't falter.
Now, eight years on, Ayling has revealed 'the hate never went away' in a new three-part BBC documentary that explores the wild reason 'no one believed' her gut-wrenching story.
'What is it about me and this story that makes it so hard to believe?' she asks at the opening of each episode in the docu-series.
The mum-of-one details how the trauma of not being believed has lingered with her all these years, stating it 'the aftermath definitely affected me more, long-term, than the actual kidnap itself'.
'[But] it was my calmness that saved me.
'I want to show a victim doesn't have to fit into a typical box to be believed.'
She's since been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a developmental condition that affects how people communicate, interact with others, and behave.
In the doco, she explains how her then undiagnosed symptoms were behind some of the reasons many struggled to believe the complex tale of her abduction.
'That's a big relief actually in being diagnosed,' she explains at another point in the documentary, while flicking through childhood pictures.
'I had a lot of difficulties with communication. I'd react in the wrong way. If I was being told off I would smile. I just had the wrong reactions to things.'
As a result, Ayling, now 28, has spent years fighting to convince others about what happened.
Her ordeal began after she landed in Milan, lured there believing she had booked for a photo shoot involving motorcycle leathers.
But after arriving at the studio in July 2017, she was snatched by two men in balaclavas, who proceeded to inject ketamine into her arm before gagging and then bundling her into a holdall bag in the boot of a car.
The model was then taken to a remote farmhouse where she was handcuffed to a chest of drawers before her agent was sent an email demanding a $300,000 ransom from someone claiming to be a 'mid-high level contract killer' who worked for an organised crime group that traded in human beings.
If the agent didn't pay up, Ayling was set to be auctioned as a sex slave on the dark web.
The threatening email even included the so-called advert: 'Chloe: Caucasian; 34DD-25-35.' Three photos of her were attached, showing the young woman in swimwear lying on the floor while looking utterly terrified.
During her captivity, Ayling started chatting to her kidnapper, and decided to use his growing 'infatuation' with her to try and escape.
'The more we started talking, the more the bond was kind of forming and once I realised he was starting to like me, I knew I had to use that to my advantage,' she told BBC reporter Victoria Derbyshire in 2018.
Herba said in court he fell in love with Ayling before they met and hoped the kidnapping would create a scandal to help her modelling career.
The model said within two days of being held captive, she agreed to share a bed with Herba. She recalled her kidnapper asking if they could share a kiss and have a relationship.
'I thought, 'This is my chance to get out',' she told the BBC.
'Once I saw his reaction to what I was saying, that things could happen in the future — he was acting excited and really looking forward to it and always talking about it — it was that response that made me realise I needed to keep doing that.
'I had to do everything I could to make him fall in love with me.'
Once she was freed, Herba was arrested, and claimed that Ayling was involved in the kidnapping and that it was a publicity stunt to further her modelling career.
Witnesses told authorities they saw Ms Ayling and Herba in a cafe appearing to enjoy their time together. They were also spotted walking hand-in-hand.
As a result, Ayling was ridiculed by media and scrutinised by the public who became obsessed with the fact she may have made the whole story up.
The new BBC series features exclusive interviews with the anonymous UK detective, from the Regional Organised Crime Unit, who – along with three officers from Milan Police and the judge at her kidnapper's trial – all stand by Ayling's version of events, with the judge describing her testimony as 'extremely precise, specific and detailed'.
Herba's sentence of 16 years and nine months was later reduced to just over 11 years on appeal.
He was also ordered to pay 60,000 euros
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