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Model Chloe Ayling tried to make kidnapper Lukasz Herba 'fall in love with her'

A model who was kidnapped in Italy by a man living in the Black Country says she tried to make him fall in love with her in a desperate bid to escape captivity.

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Chloe Ayling

Chloe Ayling, aged 20, was snatched after being lured to a fake modelling shoot in Milan and bundled into the boot of a car. She was taken to a remote farmhouse where she was held for six days.

Polish national Lukasz Herba, 30, who was living in Tividale, was jailed for nearly 17 years last month after being convicted of kidnapping the model by an Italian court.

WATCH the BBC interview here:

Speaking about her ordeal, she revealed that after two days of being chained to a chest of drawers, she agreed to share a bed with her captor.

"The more we started talking, the more the bond was kind of forming and once I realised he was starting to like me, I knew I had to use that to my advantage," she said.

Ms Ayling says it was 'horrendous' when she arrived at the house and Herba said she would be sold as a sex slave unless she found 300,000 euros (£265,000).

"I thought what he was saying was all true and I didn't doubt him for a second because he was so detailed in responses to my questions," she says.

But he also asked her if he could kiss her and if they could have a relationship.

"I thought this is my chance to get out," Ms Ayling said.

"Once I saw his reaction to what I was saying that things could happen in the future - he was acting excited and really looking forward to it and always talking about it - it was that response that made me realise I needed to keep doing that."

Lukasz Herba

When he realised the ransom was not going to be paid, he released her and drove her to the British consulate in Milan.

While they were waiting for it to open, witnesses reported seeing them laughing and joking in a cafe.

But Ms Ayling said: 'Why would you be 'offish' with the person who is starting to have feelings for you and is relying on that to release you?

"I had to do everything I could to make him fall in love with me."

Herba was jailed in June for 16 years and nine months following a trial at a court in Milan. Police raided a block of flats in Tividale after the kidnapping made international headlines last year.

The model said: "I still don't fully understand his motivation. It can't just be money as why (pick) me and he added me on Facebook two years ago, it's like he's been stalking me for that long so it must be obsession as well."