In June 2018, Łukasz Herba, a Polish national from the United Kingdom, was convicted in a Milan court of the kidnapping and sentenced to 16 years and nine months in prison.
Łukasz Herba, a 30-year-old Polish computer programmer from Oldbury, West Midlands, operating under the alias "Andre Lazio", developed a plan to organise a new photoshoot.
The next morning, Green received a ransom email, ostensibly from The Black Death Group and written by "MD" (another Herba alias) demanding €300,000 or else Ayling would be auctioned off as a sex slave on the dark web on 16 July.
However, after six days, on Monday 17 July, Ayling and Herba turned up together at the Milan consulate, and suspicion quickly fell on the two after CCTV footage of them together in public emerged.
[9][10] The case brought attention to "The Black Death Group", an organisation alleged to exist in Eastern Europe and operating on the dark web over frequently-changing URLs.
[15] In April 2023, BBC Three announced a new six-part drama based on the abduction, titled Kidnapped, written by Georgia Lester and made with the blessing of Ayling herself.