Five guilty of kidnapping boy, 10

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A woman and four men have been found guilty of kidnapping a 10-year-old boy.

The boy was made to kiss his mother goodbye before being blindfolded by the gang and driven to a hideout.

Dawn Latida Fields, 26, and Jeriah Simpson, 20, both of Navy Street, Clapham, were found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and blackmail.

Edwin Brensely Phillip, 21, Gadwell Gibbs, 23, Damien Richard Francis, 24, were convicted on two counts of false imprisonment and firearms charges.

The three, all from Brooklyn in New York, were members of a gang hired by Fields.

Fake guns

The 10-year-old's ordeal began when £300,000 cash which had been wired from the US by Ms Fields' partner, Adonis Perez, was thought to have been stolen.

Ms Fields' investigations identified Sheldon Stone, who was involved in the transfer of cash and knew the boy's family, as the suspect. She believed the boy and his mother were living with Mr Stone.

The New York gang were driven to the victim's home in Walthamstow, east London.

"His mother suffered terribly at the hands of these sinister criminals who were determined to cause harm Detective Superintendent Alan Pughsley Francis, wearing a stolen Royal Mail jacket, tricked the boy's mother into opening the door, allowing the gang to storm in, armed with fake guns and a meat cleaver.

The "screaming" woman was bound at the feet and gagged and the boy taken to a flat in Victoria, central London.

Fields made ransom demands of up to £100,000 before police were able to locate her by tracing her mobile phone signal.

Detective Superintendent Alan Pughsley, head of the Kidnap Unit, said: "His (the victim's) mother suffered terribly at the hands of these sinister criminals who were determined to cause harm in order to achieve their goal.

"There is no doubt in my mind that they were prepared to carry through their threats."

The five are to be sentenced at a later date.