A West Midlands man should be extradited to Italy to face trial for the alleged kidnapping of a British model, a judge has ruled.
Michal Herba, 36, a Polish national from Tividale, near Birmingham, is wanted by Milanese authorities in relation to the allegations involving Chloe Ayling.
His 30-year-old brother, Lukasz Herba, is in custody in Italy. He was arrested after taking Ayling to the British consulate in Milan on 17 July.
Ayling, 20, claimed she was snatched, drugged and held hostage for six days by a group calling itself Black Death after being lured to a fake modelling shoot in Milan in July.
It emerged that Ayling, from south London, went shopping for groceries and shoes with her alleged captor, prompting questions about the degree of coercion she was under, and whether the pair may have collaborated in a fake kidnapping.
Herba’s lawyers on Monday suggested the entire case may be a “sham” invented as a “publicity stunt” to boost Ayling’s career. Since her return to the UK Ayling has signed with an international celebrity talent agency.
However, at a hearing at Westminster magistrates court, district judge Paul Goldspring said Herba should be extradited to Italy to join his brother to face allegations they kidnapped the model before demanding a €300,000 (£264,000) ransom.
“I have decided you should be surrendered to Italy to face trial for the kidnap,” the judge told Herba.
However, lawyers for Herba immediately said they would appeal against the decision.
George Hepburne Scott, his barrister, said: “I will continue to support my client throughout these proceedings and in Italy, if necessary. He continues to protest his innocence in the strongest possible terms.”
Italian police claim the Polish-born brothers are part of Black Death, which says it sells women as sex slaves on the dark web to buyers in the Middle East.
Herba was arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) on a European arrest warrant issued by the Italian authorities last month.
Fighting the extradition earlier this week, Scott: said: “There is a real risk that the entire case is a sham.”
He pointed to a “unique set of anomalies”, including the claims that Ayling went shoe shopping with Herba’s brother and had breakfast with him before her release.
He also highlighted the model’s string of television appearances and plans to release a book, arguing the extradition would amount to an abuse of process if the kidnapping had been a publicity stunt.
On Friday, the judge said the 89 pages of “open source” material relied upon by Scott came entirely from reports in the media. “I make clear that is not evidence to support it being a sham,” he added.
