Chloe Ayling relives terror of being kidnapped and breaks down in tears on This Morning – as model blames her ex-agent for putting her in harm’s way
BRITISH model Chloe Ayling has relived the terror of being snatched in her first TV appearance on This Morning - and blames her ex-agent for putting her in harm's way.
The 20-year-old model broke down in tears as she told of the moment she saw an empty suitcase and hoped for a "non-painful death" as she feared she'd be killed.
Interviewed by Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, the mum-of-one was asked when she first realised something was amiss.
She told them: "It was when I walked into the studio and there was just silence.
"Normally someone would greet you at the door or closer to the door but I just didn't hear anything, so that's why when I saw the door that said studio on it I went to open it.
"But before I had the time to process my thoughts that is exactly when the masked man put his arm around my neck and my mouth and nose.
"Another one came to the front of me and injected me in my wrist."
Asked what was going through her mind at this stage, she described it as "absolute panic".
"I didn't know what it was. I didn't know why. I thought someone wrong had got me and the shoot was still supposed to go on. I didn't connect it as a set-up.
"I woke up in the boot of a car in a zip up bag and tape on my mouth and handcuffs on my feet."
She continued: "It was horrible. I was still drugged but so I didn't process it automatically but I was trying to shout and find my way out but I didn't know what was happening.
"The car was moving and the radio was blaring as well so I couldn't really get the attention so I had to really raise my voice like 'driver, driver, where are we', and it took a while for them to actually pull over the car and come round the back and then I was still asking questions.
"When they pulled over I saw through the gap that they'd put an empty suitcase above it and at that point I thought I was going to die because what other reason would they put an empty suitcase about my size there."
Her voice cracked and she broke down into tears as she said: "I was just hoping for a non-painful death."
Directly addressing concerns that she hasn't appeared as a "nervous wreck" on camera after her ordeal, she said: "That's just how I am as a person. I try to be as strong as possible.
"I was in Italy for three weeks before I came home to the UK, what people didn't witness was me crying almost everyday, me being too paranoid to leave my room. Any noises I hear I would freak out, having nightmares.
"No one here witnessed that. I only started to get more reassured as it came to the end of the three week period when police were trying to reassure me they knew the truth of the story and I didn't need to be fearful when I return to the UK."
She also said: "It is really hurtful to see people doubt my story. Like when I went shoe shopping apparently, which was to the camping shop to get shoes for the consulate, people were saying why didn't I run?
"'It's easy for them to say that but when you're in my situation it's not that easy.
"I was with an assassin that's always armed, I'd been shown knives, so I couldn't just try and put my life in the hands of a random Italian woman. If I couldn't communicate with her, or she didn't care, then I'd risk my life - and it's not just about him."
Asked about her agent at the time of her ordeal, Phil Green, Miss Ayling claims he didn't carry out the proper checks before she as abducted by the Black Death sex gang.
She said: "I can't help but blame him because my mum said that when she called him and said that I was missing she was urging him to check out the studio and the number of the photographer to see if I turned up to the shoot and the next day he was able to check the studio didn't exist.
";He said he called other agencies within Milan and no one had ever heard of the studio, so I did feel really let down.
"I don't take bookings through my email or DM on Instagram for that reason - because I feel like it's not safe - so to rely on a manager to have done all the checks and to almost lose my life because of it, of course I'm going to change agency."
But Mr Green earlier denied he had failed to check out the studio and photographer before agreeing to the booking during an interview on Good Morning Britain.
Mr Green, of Supermodel Agency, described feeling "hacked off" by her decision to leave his agency after the "huge stress" of supporting her through the ordeal.
He told presenter Jeremy Kyle: "I am hacked off. It is disappointing because Chloe has had the most amazing year with the agency.
"She probably has been the most successful model, within the agency, and to pay up for all those expenses, to live that ordeal with her, deal with ransom notes and the huge stress of trying to get her released."
He added: "We spoke on the day she got back many times because the phone was ringing - there was a huge amount of work and job offers coming in.
"I think by Monday morning I counted there was £200,000 worth of work coming in for her.
"She didn't do this for publicity purposes for any means."
He claims that the only reason Chloe decided to speak out was because the Italian police had publicly released the details of her ordeal.
"She was humiliated by the fact she had been kidnapped," he said.
"She had been through an ordeal and she wanted to forget it, come back home and start her normal modelling life, but the Italian police gave out a press release and gave every detail about the situation."
Despite dumping him within days of her return, Mr Green said he "will remain staunchly loyal to her" as "she has been through an awful ordeal".
And as her agent, he admits he felt "responsible" for sending her to Milan, but felt he had done the right checks.
Mr Green said: "I felt responsible in the sense that I didn't want to send her to the hands of a kidnapper.
"I thought I was sending her to a proper photo shoot in a studio.
"Everything checked out, nothing was flagged up to say anything was suspicious."
After returning to the UK, Miss Ayling decided to drop Mr Green as her agent and signed for Kruger Cowne, which represents dozens of household names, including Cher, Goldie Hawn and Claudia Schiffer.
Miss Ayling yesterday described the moment she was drugged, gagged, handcuffed and dumped in the boot of a car by a sex gang who tried to sell her as a slave on the internet as the "worst day of my life".
Polish national Lukasz Pawel Herba, 30, has been arrested by police and reportedly confessed to the "elaborate" kidnapping.
His home in Oldbury, in the West Midlands, has been raided by British officers.
Milan magistrate Dr Giovanna Campanile ruled he was "highly dangerous to society" and should remain in custody ahead of his trial later this year.
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