A mother-of-five and her family were “held hostage” in their own home for five hours by police after helping a man who burst into their home bleeding from a gunshot wound.

The family claimed they were “treated like criminals” when police forced them to stand in their narrow stairwell for hours without allowing them to eat, drink, go to the toilet or get their son medication.

Hazel Elkington, of Whitlock Drive, was at home at 3pm on Tuesday, September 8, with her husband Clifford and two children when the family heard five loud gunshots coming from a nearby road.

Within minutes a young man, with blood pouring from a shoulder wound, ran into the Elkingtons’ flat to try to hide from the gunman.

Despite the shock of seeing a man bleeding, and the possible danger of the gunman following him, they helped stem the man’s bleeding and called an ambulance.

Mr Elkington said: “We were terrified but what were we supposed to do, kick him out on to the street? We were relieved when the police arrived at 3.20pm but they immediately rounded us up and made us stand in the stairwell.

“They thought we were actually involved, that we were hiding the gun. We felt we had done the decent thing, and yet they were treating us like the criminals in our own home. What if we hadn’t helped him? He could have died.”

The family said they were forced to stand for hours in their stairwell without eating, drinking or going to the toilet.

Mrs Elkington said she was not even allowed to fetch medication for her son, who suffers from ADHD, which he requires several times a day, and police did not leave until nearly 9pm.

She said: “It was really hot that day, 27C or something, and we were not allowed out of the hall. We kept asking the officers to let us back in our living room but they just said ‘Sorry, we are just doing our job’.

“I think it’s disgusting the way we were treated. They pulled all of our furniture apart and left clothes strewn across the floor. We felt really intimidated in our own home, and our youngest has been having nightmares ever since.”

A police spokeswoman confirmed officers were called to Whitlock Drive where a 20-year-old Asian man was found with a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

They believe the man had been trying to get into a friend’s house but had mistakenly entered the wrong flat.

She said: “As soon as the man entered the Elkingtons’ property, it became a crime scene.

“Wandsworth police will be looking into the incident.”

No arrests have been made but two young men were seen cycling toward the Albert Drive area at 3pm.