A millionaire's daughter was forced to drive rioters around as they robbed other looters at knife point, a court has heard.

Laura Johnson, 20, told Inner London Crown Court she felt she had no choice when her friend T-Man told her to drive him and three other men around Lewisham and Greenwich on August 8.

She said: "I was terrified. I had never seen anyone robbed at knife point before. It's not nice, especially when you know they're returning to your car."

Johnson, of Sheepcote Lane, Orpington, told the court they had made at least three stops to drop off items at a house in the Catford or Hither Green area.

She said she told them she wanted to go home but was not allowed.

She added she had been threatened on two occasions when T-Man put his hand around her neck and pressed her throat with his thumb.

Johnson was introduced to T-Man, who has also been referred to as Sylar, by a friend who she met while receiving psychiatric treatment at Green Park House in Farnborough.

The court heard Johnson had been self harming and was feeling suicidal in the months before the riots.

She told the court she had tried to kill herself six times and had been prescribed with anti-depressants but had been growing close to T-Man.

She said: "I was very trusting and affectionate with him.

"He was the person I'd talk to if I was feeling really bad."

The former Newstead Wood pupil denies three charges of burgling electrical items, alcohol and cigarettes and three alternative charges of handling stolen goods.

She was arrested with a 17-year-old male, who cannot be named because of his age, in the early hours of August 9 after being found with a stash of stolen goods in her car.

The trial continues.