The Polish man who accused model Chloe Ayling of faking her own kidnapping has been convicted of the crime.
Ms Ayling says she feels vindicated now that Lukasz Herba, 30, has been convicted of kidnapping her, after he previously accused her of writing her own ransom note.
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The 20-year-old had told Italian police she was held captive for six days in July 2017 after being lured to a photo shoot in Milan where she was abducted.
Her lawyer said the plot was to sell the model for sex in an online auction unless a ransom was paid.
In August last year, Italian police arrested the alleged kidnapper, Herba, and subsequently British police detained his brother Michal in central England on behalf of the Italian authorities.
Sceptics said the whole affair was a publicity stunt, pointing to photos of Ms Ayling shopping with her kidnappers as evidence.
Herba said at his trial that Ms Ayling met with him and planned the kidnapping, knowing it would raise her profile. He claimed she helped him write the note due to his poor English and also put herself in a bag to leave her DNA behind.
But it was a change from his original story. Initially he told police he was part of a Romanian gang and needed ransom money to pay for treatment for leukaemia.
Now that Herba has been convicted of the crime and Ms Ayling's name has been cleared, she can "get on with her life," her agent Adrian Sington told the Daily Mail.
"One of the difficulties with a psychopath and a narcissist, as Mr Herba is, is that he behaves in such a way that it's almost impossible to believe that someone could be so stupid and so, in some ways, it's not surprising that the media found Chloe's story difficult to believe."
Ms Ayling's lawyer, Francesco Pesce, said she is "relieved and very happy about the verdict".
"We all are. Many people called her a liar."
Prosecutors have determined that Ms Ayling was drugged with ketamine, knocking her out, and kidnapped following her arrival in Milan for a modelling job.
She was said to have been transported to a farmhouse in a canvas bag and held for six days at the farmhouse before being released at the British consulate in Milan.
Herba claims he fell in love with Ms Ayling.
Newshub.
