A man who denies taking part in the kidnap and blackmail of a crack cocaine addict told a court he was elsewhere when the victim was abducted, tortured, stabbed and threatened with death.

Mark Dawes is alleged to have helped bundle Faisal Idris into a car at Moorhen Walk, Greater Leys, and assisted in taking him to a flat at Shepherd's Hill where he was held and attacked. The prosecution claims he also helped make contact with the victim's family who were trying to raise £5,000 to secure his release.

Oxford Crown Court heard Mr Idris, 22, of Spencer Close, Oxford, owed £150 to Dawes's co-defendant, Anthony Campbell, whom he said had supplied him with drugs in the past, and was kidnapped when he asked for more time to pay.

But Dawes, 24, said at the time of the kidnap - 4pm on May 25 - he went to a friend's house at Moorhen Walk, left to buy a Chinese meal and returned home to another address in Shepherd's Hill to eat it. He said he then fell asleep watching a video, waking at about 5am.

However, the court was told calls were made from Dawes's mobile phone at the time he claims to have been asleep. The kidnapping ended when the victim was taken to Tesco in Cowley, to be exchanged for the money at 5.20am.

Police who had been tipped off were waiting.

Dawes said he did not know why Mr Idris' blood was on his shoes and trousers but added he had walked past a blood covered car used in the kidnapping.

The trial continues.