Kidnap boy 'feared for his life'

The boy was found in a locked bathroom in a central London flat

A 10-year-old boy who was kidnapped from his east London home by a New York gang has told a court about the moment he feared he might die.

The child, who spoke to Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court via video-link, was found unharmed 36 hours later.

New Yorkers Gadell Gibbs, 24, Edwin Phillip, 22, and Damien Francis, 24, admit kidnap and false imprisonment.

But Londoners Dawn Fields and her half-brother Jeriah Simpson deny false imprisonment, kidnap and blackmail.

'Gagged and blindfolded'

Speaking via video-link on Wednesday, the boy told jurors that the three men, one who was disguised as a postman, burst into his home in Walthamstow.

He said they were brandishing guns, wielding machetes and were equipped with handcuffs and tape.

After bounding, gagging and blindfolding his mother they ransacked the place, looking for a hidden "underworld" fortune.

"I was shocked," the boy said.

"I wanted to go to the police station but one of the men pushed me back in."

He said the three New Yorkers kept pulling their handguns from their waistbands and checking their ammunition.

"I didn't know what was going to happen to me," he said.

The boy's ordeal is thought to have begun when £300,000 of cash which had been wired from the US by Ms Fields's partner, Adonis Perez, was thought to have been stolen.

Ms Fields's investigations identified Sheldon Stone, who was involved in the transfer of cash and knew the boy's family, as the suspect.

I didn't know what was going to happen to me 10-year-old boy

She mistakenly thought Mr Stone was living with the boy and his mother, so when earlier attempts for him to meet her failed, she (Ms Fields) resorted to kidnap, the court had heard.

Alleged mastermind

Despite not finding the stolen £300,000 they were looking for - nor the man thought to have taken it - the gang ordered the boy to pack and "kiss goodbye" to his mother, the court heard.

Finally, the raiders led the boy to a waiting car leaving his mother in the locked flat, jurors were told.

"I didn't run off in case they shot me," said the boy, who said he had tried to escape once.

The gang then drove him across London blindfolding him with a "bank robber's mask" before taking him by the hand into their "stronghold", where he stayed for the next 36 hours.

Jurors heard his mother eventually managed to free herself and after several hours and a string of ransom demands for up to £100,000, she dialled 999.

The alleged mastermind, 26-year-old Dawn Fields was soon identified by police, who during a police interview claimed the missing cash had come from the "underworld".

Shortly after identifying Ms Fields, the police rushed in to the central London flat where the boy was, and found him in a locked bathroom.

The youngster explained that moments before he was finally freed he heard what he thought was a "bomb" going off.

The case continues.