Glamour model Chloe Ayling’s kidnapper has jail term reduced by five years in Italy because ‘he acted out of love’
- Lukasz Herba, 30, was jailed last year for more than 16 years for kidnap
- Sentence slashed because he drove her to British consulate after her ordeal
- Chloe was snatched when she turned up for bogus photoshoot in Milan
One of British model Chloe Ayling’s kidnappers has had his 16-year jail sentence reduced by nearly five years in Italy because he ‘acted compassionately’ and ‘out of love’ when he released her.
Lukasz Herba, 30, and his brother Michal snatched terrified Chloe in Milan and drove her to an isolated farmhouse squeezed inside a holdall in July 2017.
Both were jailed the following year for kidnapping the former Celebrity Big Brother star.
But an Appeal Court has ruled Lukasz should serve 12 years and one month instead of the 16 years and nine months he was originally given.
The judgement says Lukasz ‘acted out of love’ because he didn’t ‘abandon her in an isolated area’ when he released her after six days but drove her to the British consulate in Milan instead.
Chloe, 22, from Coulsdon, south west London, was snatched by the brothers when she turned up for a bogus photoshoot and injected with tranquiliser ketamin.
Chloe Ayling was kidnapped in Milan in July 2018 and driven to an isolated farmhouse squeezed inside a holdall after turning up for a bogus photoshoot
Lukasz Herba, 30, was jailed for 16 years and nine months last year for kidnapping Chloe
Chilling images show the model, 21, drugged on the floor before she was kidnapped
She broke down in tears in court last summer 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 on the Internet unless a £230,000 ransom was paid.
The brothers tried to claim the kidnapping was a publicity stunt that the mum-of-one was part of 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.
‘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 revealsed a softer side to Lukasz saying he taught her how to play Battleships to pass the time.
Lukasz’s brother Michal, 38, was jailed for 16 years in December 2018 for his part in the kidnap after being extradited from Oldbury, West Midlands, where he had been living with his brother.
Last month she confessed to a threesome with fellow Big Brother contestants Dan Osborne and Natalia Nunn.
She has also dated former Premier League footballer Jermaine Pennant.
Model Chloe Ayling later appeared on Celebrity Big brother
Michal Herba (above) has now had his sentence reduced by nearly five years by an Appeal Court because he ‘acted compassionately’ and ‘out of love’ when he released her.
Kidnap victim Chloe Ayling pictured giving evidence to an Italian court via video link from London during the trial of her abductors last year
An Italian police officer demonstrated how Ms Ayling could have been kept in a bag as part of the evidence in the kidnap trial
Michal Herba pictured during his trial for kidnap in Milan in 2018
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