In 1987, London-based lawyer and part-time DJ, Phil Green, cemented a new career endeavour by founding his own modelling agency, aptly titled ‘Supermodel Agency’. By 2017, Phil was entering his thirtieth year in the industry and Supermodel Agency was a major success, representing a large catalogue of glamour models, promo girls and Instagram influencers.

Phil Green took every opportunity to network with the rich and famous, arranging parties at London’s trendy nightclubs, where he would spend the evening in the VIP area surrounded by a bevvy of attractive women half his age. If one of his models hooked up with a celebrity or sports star, Phil would put them in touch with tabloid newspaper journalists and earn a cut of the profit for the scoop. He also pocketed twenty per cent of the sales from photos depicting his models in compromising situations, such as accidental flashes of public nudity, most of which were staged.

On the morning of Wednesday, July 12 2017, Phil sat down at his computer to check his work emails. His inbox contained the usual array of offers from clients seeking models, but there was one email that stood out from all the others. It was sent from an organisation titled ‘The Black Death Group’ and began: “We’ve got Chloe Ayling.”