British glamour model Chloe Ayling was NOT abducted ‘for extortion purposes’ Italian judge rules as kidnapper who claimed it was a publicity stunt has jail term reduced from 16 years to five
- Michal Herba has successfully appealed his sentence at a hearing in Milan
- His brother Lukasz had his sentenced reduced last year for ‘compassion’
- The pair seized and drugged Chloe Ayling in 2017 at a bogus photoshoot
Glamour model Chloe Ayling’s kidnapper has had his sentence reduced from 16 years to five years and eight months after an appeal.
An Italian judge ruled that Michał Herba’s sentence should be downgraded from ‘kidnapping for extortion purposes’ to just kidnapping.
Last year, his brother Lukasz also had his sentence reduced by nearly five years because he ‘acted compassionately’ and ‘out of love’ when he released her.
The jailed pair have consistently claimed the kidnapping was a publicity stunt for the model to boost her career, allegations which the Italian courts dismissed.
Glamour model Chloe Ayling’s kidnapper has had his sentence reduced from 16 years to five years and eight months after an appeal
An Italian judge ruled that Michał Herba’s (pictured) sentence should be downgraded from ‘kidnapping for extortion purposes’ to just kidnapping
Chloe, 23, from Coulsdon, south west London, was snatched by the brothers when she turned up for a bogus photoshoot and injected with ketamine.
The Polish nationals kidnapped her in Milan and drove her to an isolated farmhouse squeezed inside a holdall in July 2017.
Chilling images show the model drugged on the floor before she was kidnapped
Both were jailed the following year for kidnapping the former Celebrity Big Brother star.
Last January, an Appeal Court ruled Lukasz should serve 12 years and one month instead of the 16 years and nine months he was originally given.
Now a judge has similarly reduced the sentence of Michal although he rejected an appeal over the use of ketamine, according to the Milano Corriere.
His attorneys claimed in the appeal that Chloe had taken the tranquiliser herself and was not drugged.
But Judge Ichino dismissed their claims at the hearing in Milan on Wednesday.
Chloe broke down in tears in court in 2019 as she described being grabbed and drugged by a man wearing a balaclava who said he was part of a shadowy gang called Black Death who threatened to auction her as a sex slave.
The brothers have frequently claimed the kidnapping was a publicity stunt carried out by the mother-of-one to boost her modelling career.
She told the court: ‘I tried to get away. There was a hand over my mouth and I could not breathe. I was trying to get the hand off my face, but I could not fight much longer.
Lukasz Herba (pictured) was jailed in June 2018 after being found guilty of kidnapping Chloe but has now had his sentence reduced by nearly five years
An Italian police officer demonstrated how Ms Ayling could have been kept in a bag as part of the evidence in the kidnap trial
Model Chloe Ayling later appeared on Celebrity Big Brother after her kidnapping ordeal
‘Straight away I felt drowsy and I fell to the floor unconscious. When I started to wake up I was in a restricted space, I was in a black duffel bag.
‘I had tape all around my mouth and I had handcuffs on my wrists and handcuffs on my ankles.’
Chloe published a diary of her time in captivity which revealed a softer side to Lukasz saying he taught her how to play Battleships to pass the time.
Despite their claims of innocence, email exchanges between the brothers were retrieved from a computer used by Lukasz in the kidnap planning.
In one email Lukasz talked about getting hold of bag that would be big enough to hold Ayling.
Ayling was released after six days when Herba dropped her at the British consul in Milan where he was immediately arrested
After she was injected with ketamine, she was photographed semi conscious while being held at the farmhouse near Turin.
The day before being released Ayling was captured on CCTV cameras walking hand-in-hand with Lukasz.
These images and her apparent calm demeanour in later interviews led to speculation she was involved in the elaborate kidnap plan.
Ayling was released after six days when Herba dropped her at the British consul in Milan where he was immediately arrested.
Prosecutors said Herba was a fantasist who had came up with the kidnap plan to persuade Ayling to fall in love with him