Mr Clark added: “You were physically shaking and crying and, when your family asked you about it, you could not tell them, could you?
“You could not tell them for fear of retribution for you and your family?”
The boy agreed.
Mr Clark put it to him: “It was not a fear of the police, was it? It was a fear of Sean Mercer and the gang, wasn’t it?”
The witness said: “Yes, sir.”
Mr Clark continued: “I suggest that throughout this you had a great fear of real harm to yourself and your family if you didn’t co-operate with Sean Mercer.
“You didn’t go to the police because of this fear.”
The boy again said: “Yes.”
Mr Clark said to him: “You still have a genuine real fear of serious harm to yourself and your family but you have told the truth, haven’t you?”
The witness said he had told the truth.
Mr Clark continued: “Sean Mercer doesn’t have to directly threaten you for you to feel fear, does he?”“
The boy said: “No, sir.”
