The man accused of kidnapping British glamour model Chloe Ayling has told a court that she was in on the plot and helped him write ransom notes.
As The Sun reports, 30-year-old Polish man Lucasz Herba testified on Wednesday that he had met Ayling on Facebook in 2015. He alleges that they had planned the kidnapping when the 20-year-old came to Italy last July.
20-year-old Ayling says she was kidnapped upon arriving in Milan for a photo shoot by Herba and his brother, Michael, 36, and that she was drugged, stuffed into a bag and kept for six days while her kidnappers tried to auction her as a sex slave on the dark web, Nine News reports.
Herba told the court that he and Ayling had “talked about [the kidnapping] for two hours”.
“She wrote [the ransom notes] with me,” he said through an interpreter.
“My English isn’t too good. She collaborated. She knew that when all the scandal was over she would earn a lot of money and publicity.”
Herba also testified that “the plan was that if we had any problems she was to blame someone else for the kidnap”.
Speaking to 60 Minutes on Sunday’s episode, Ayling acknowledged that many have queried her story.
“I see why people have doubts, because if it wasn’t me, I would think it’s just crazy,” she said.
“But it doesn’t affect me because after going through something so bad, the opinions of people that don’t even know me or know the full story, it’s just not going to affect me.”
The trial in Milan continues.
