‘What if you helped me to escape and my parents will give you and your mum a thousand pounds?’ The idea had suddenly popped into Danny’s head and he hoped it would appeal to Lewis, but before he had a chance to answer they heard a car approaching.

‘Bloody hell, they’re back. Get upstairs quick!’ Lewis shoved Danny in the direction of the living room where his mother slept on, oblivious to what was happening around her. They dashed up the stairs where Danny scooted into his room and Lewis shut the door, ramming in the bolts on the outside. The next thing Danny heard was the toilet flushing and Lewis going back downstairs.

‘What the hell are you doing up there!’ A man’s voice rose up the stairs.

‘Just having a pee,’ Lewis replied calmly – he seemed well practised at subterfuge.

Once the two men were inside the house, all was quiet for a while. Danny feared they might come upstairs and his heart was beating rapidly, but they didn’t. His thoughts turned to his parents who must be frantic by now. Had they paid the ransom? Were the police looking for him? He checked his watch – 9.10 am – the day was only just beginning but Danny felt he’d been captive for weeks.

Two hours passed without anyone coming upstairs. Danny heard shouting several times, men’s voices mainly, but once he heard a scream from a woman, presumably Lewis’s mother. Danny wished Lewis would come back upstairs, but he shouldn’t have done so in the first place and would probably be in trouble if the men guessed as much. He wondered if Lewis was thinking over what he’d said about helping him to escape and his parents paying him. Yet if they were locked in when the men were away, would Lewis even be able to help? Perhaps his mother would have a key, one she hadn’t told her son about.

Morning turned into afternoon and the hours dragged by. Danny’s mind wouldn’t stop working and he was looking at the situation from every angle, trying to find a solution, as they taught him to do in maths at school. It was, he concluded, a good thing the men didn’t come up to his room. If he didn’t see them, he couldn’t identify them when he was released, as Lewis said, so they wouldn’t have a reason to kill him. The thought was positive but not a certainty and Danny worried how this would work out – all he knew for sure was that he was cold, hungry and afraid.