Crack and heroin gang kidnapped and tortured man in field they thought had stolen £40k drug stash

A drugs gang who kidnapped and tortured a man in a field after they believed he had stolen £40,000 worth of crack and heroin from a safe house, has been jailed.

A 22-year-old man was kidnapped by the gang at knife point in Plumstead, south east London, at 11.45pm on 19 April and driven to Kent.

The gang; Daniel Edwards, 49, of Gilbourne Road, Greenwich, Kofi Francis, 23, of Whetstone Road, Greenwich, Daren Davis, 27 of Bostall Hill, Greenwich and Daniel Cogger, 26, of no fixed abode, were convicted of a range of charges including kidnap, GBH and robbery.

During a six-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court, a jury heard how the gang believed the victim targeted a drugs safe house in Gilbourne Road, stealing £30,000 to £40,000 of Class A drugs.

Demanding the victim give the drugs back, Francis and Davis drove him out into the Kent countryside, attacking him with a knife en route.

They stopped at a field in Southfleet, near Dartford, and then tortured, stabbed and beat the victim while Cogger and Edwards searched an address in London.

As the attack intensified, by chance, a Kent, Sussex and Surrey Air Ambulance helicopter was flying over the fields testing a new search light and the torturers panicked, allowing the victim to escape.

The victim was taken to hospital and treated for serious stab wounds and Edwards was arrested at home three days later. In Edwards' home police found a drugs factory and crack cocaine in a safe.

Police then found Edwards talking to other members of the gang including Francis who tried to use a middle-man to offer the victim £12,000 to withdraw his prosecution.

The gang will be sentenced on 20 December.