Kidnapped Chloe Ayling's manager reveals fresh details about sinister ransom note after fake claims

Chloe Ayling's manager Phil Green has opened up about the horrifying ransom note he received following the glamour model's 2017 abduction, while hitting back at rumours of a 'faked' kidnap attempt

Glamour model Chloe Ayling's hellish kidnap was unbelievable to some - but now her former manager has shared horrifying details of the ordeal in a bid to put the rumours to bed once and for all.

In 2017, the former Big Brother star was lured to fashionable Milan, Italy, by Polish national Lukasz Herba, on the promise of a photoshoot. Instead, Chloe was plunged into a nightmare, with evil Herba injecting her with ketamine before stuffing her into a holdall bag and gagging her.

She was then kept in a remote cabin in Viu, near Turin, for six agonising days, during which time she claimed she did everything she could to survive - even befriending the monster who imprisoned her. Influencer Chloe, now 26, was told she would be auctioned as a sex slave on the dark web for €300,000 (£265,000), while Herba also sent an eerie ransom note to Chloe's manager, Phil Green.

Chloe had arrived in Italy on July 10, 2017, where she was booked to stay at the elegant Hotel Galles in the heart of Milan. On that first night, Chloe spoke with Phil before heading out to dinner, while the photo shoot was scheduled to take place at 8:30am the following morning.

Phil hadn't had any concerns about the photo shoot, which had been booked through his company, Phil’s Supermodel Agency. Herba had previously booked Chloe for a shoot in Paris a few months before, under the alias Andre Lazio. On reflection, Phil reckons this could have been his first attempt to snatch Chloe.

Phil said: “I was contacted by a photographer called Andre Lazio about a motorbike shoot in Paris. He specifically asked for Chloe. I carried out due diligence, asked questions about the job, checked his website, asked where and when shoot would take place, got the address of the studio and checked examples of previous work. I’ve been doing this job for 30 years and I always carry out all the necessary checks, but there’s no way you could predict something like this.”

Phil said: “All the boxes were ticked. His studio was called ‘Bellissmafique’. I even checked the address on Google maps. Chloe was more than happy to take the job. He paid £900 up front.”

On the evening of July 11th, Phil began to twig that something wasn't right when he received a panicked phone call from Chloe's mum. He remembered: “I’d never spoken to her before. She was worried Chloe hadn’t been in touch. I sent messages to the photographer and tried to call but it was late and I received no answer.

"I checked with the airline and she hadn’t boarded the flight. Chloe had a photoshoot in Ibiza on July 13 and I thought she might have gone straight there. I tried to call her but her phone rang through with a foreign ringtone.”

Then, the very next morning, things took a chilling turn. Having already asked Chloe's mum to call the police, the severity of the situation became stark after a terrifying ransom email landed in his inbox at around 10am. The message read: “We have Chloe and we are the Black Death Group. Unless you pay money to us by Sunday she will be put to auction where she may get sold to the Russian mafia.”

Explaining that the email contained the names of three affluent businessmen who could pay the demands, Phil revealed: “It said they could be approached to get the money. The names must have come from Chloe, people she knew through work, because she knew I didn’t have the money. After seeing that email I was just frozen to the spot. I had never seen anything like that before. I was in total shock.”

Thankfully, after six days, Chloe's kidnapper finally let her go, and in 2019, Herba was jailed for 16 years. During his trial, Herba's legal team put out the story that the abduction had been faked to raise Chloe's profile - resulting in the model having to deal with intense public scrutiny. This ramped up after CCTV footage emerged that showed Chloe holding hands with Herba, and breakfasting with him in an Italian village.

In an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, Chloe explained that she'd tried to win over Herba's affections in order to survive. She shared: "I had to say, 'After I'm released I promise I will meet you' and stuff. I gave him hope and I guess that's why he set me free."

Agreeing that she had tried to make Herba 'fall in love with her to survive', Chloe said: "Yes, everything I did was to survive." She added: "Instead of being praised for being smart, tactical and brave in doing this to survive, the media and public chose not to believe me and used this to say how holding hands with the kidnapper and not trying to escape was weird."

Phil has also hit back at those doubting his former client, who has now signed with another agent. Reflecting upon the BBC drama Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling story, which first aired in August, he stated: “Chloe has said she hopes the show will stop people from questioning her.

“Chloe has been accused of faking the abduction, using it as a publicity stunt. I don’t think that will ever change, online conspiracy theories never die. I was there during the time when it happened and it was terrifying for me, it beggars belief that it was stage-managed.”

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