Jail for man who kidnapped British model

A Polish man has been found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in jail for kidnapping a British model in Italy.

Lukasz Herba held Chloe Ayling captive for six days in a farmhouse near Turin in the Piedmont region, after abducting her during what she thought would be a photo shoot last July.

He was arrested after releasing her at the British consulate.

After her release Ayling said she was taken after turning up at a property in Milan for a modelling job.

One officer giving evidence to the trial described how the model suffered "physical violence including being drugged, handcuffed and brutally transported inside a suitcase".

Herba, who was jailed for 16 years and nine months, had threatened to auction her on the internet while trying to extort £230,000 from her agent Phil Green.

He said he was in love with Ayling and the pair had concocted the scheme together to boost her career, and he invented an online group behind dark web auctions of women.

"I never hurt the girl. I was not violent with her," the 30-year-old said.

"If she felt forced verbally in any way, I am very sorry. But it certainly was not as Chloe has described.

"I was in love and I was hoping that once her fame took off that she would repay me with feelings and we would share the money."

Evidence shown to the court featured the model leading police to the property where she was held, and the town where she went with Herba to buy shoes and food.

In his closing arguments, prosecutor Paolo Storari said Ayling had been drugged with ketamine, stuffed inside a suitcase and taken to the farmhouse where she was handcuffed to the furniture for at least the first night.

Investigators said the behaviour she exhibited during her capture was consistent with the effects of the drug.

Ayling, of Coulsdon, south London, has always insisted she has told the truth about her alleged captivity.

She told police she never tried to escape because she was terrified and believed Herba's threats that he was part of a bigger criminal gang that was watching her constantly.