British model Chloe Ayling speaks with the media outside of her house in Surrey, England after allegedly being abducted and held in Italy for six days. Photo / AP
British model Chloe Ayling speaks with the media outside of her house in Surrey, England after allegedly being abducted and held in Italy for six days. Photo / AP
The lawyer for a British model allegedly kidnapped and advertised on the dark web has rubbished claims she may have been involved in her own abduction.
It comes as photographs showing a young blonde women, believed to be model Chloe Ayling, lying on a floor after allegedly being drugged and kidnapped were sent to British newspapers.
The images were emailed to a number of British newspapers and publications and appear to show the 20-year-old from Coulsdon, South London, on her back.
She was wearing a pink leotard-type garment at the property near Turin where she was allegedly held hostage for up to six days.
Italian police seals are placed on the shut gate of the photo studio, where according to investigators, Lukasz Pawel Herba, a Polish citizen with British residency, kidnapped Ayling. Photo / AP
In one of the pictures, the woman had a Dark Web advert pinned to her stomach which asked bidders to start their offers at $300,000.
The email read: "Did you know chloe ayling has been kidnapped in italy and is now for sale by russian mafia ??? see attachament."
It was sent along with the two images and the auction note which informed readers that "collection can be arranged' or that "girls can be transported globally".
The note named her as "Chloe, born in UK, abducted in Italy and held in Italy" and also described her as being a "beginner model".
In the email, it stated that "all our girls are set for auctions only" and "are being held in Europe" and also gave her measurements.
It also reminded buyers to "always make sure you are on a genuine Black Death Group website" and said there are a lot of "fake copies" online.
The National Crime Agency has said it is aware of the email and is leading the investigation.
Lukasz Pawel Herba, a Polish citizen with British residency, was arrested in the alleged kidnapping of Chloe Ayling. Photo / AP
Ayling told police she had been lured to a fake photoshoot in Milan where was drugged, stripped and handcuffed before being bundled into a suitcase in a car.
Her lawyer, Francesco Pesce, said she was given chocolates and underwear as presents by her abductors and she told officers her captor had slept next to her in a double bed.
Ayling's captors allegedly tried to sell her and police have been holding their prime suspect - Polish man Lukasz Herba, who moved to the UK several years ago.
Today, her close friend Carla Belluci, a fellow model and agent, revealed Ayling is trying to "get back to normal" and is taking part in a topless shoot this afternoon.
Lawyer Pesce told Radio 4's Today programme: "She was told that she was going to be sold to somebody in the Middle East for sex.
Francesco Pesce, lawyer for Chloe Ayling, has dismissed suggestions that Ayling was someone involved in her own kidnapping. Photo / AP
He dismissed suggestions Ayling may have somehow been in on the kidnap, describing it as "evil", after a witness claimed to have spotted her out shopping with her alleged captor.
"She was told that people were there watching her and ready to kill her if she tried anything.
"So she thought that the best idea was to go along with it and to be nice in a way to her captor because he told her that he wanted to release her somehow and sometime and she thought that the best thing to do was not to go in conflict with him.
"So she abided to his request, 'let's go and buy groceries' and 'you need shoes, let's go buy shoes' and she didn't try to flee.
"But I believe she was terrified at the moment and even if she could've asked for help she didn't because she was subjugated to this person, or people as she was given to understand."
