CCTV shows Facebook Marketplace robbers' attack

CCTV footage has captured the moment when two teenagers violently robbed a man who thought he was meeting them to buy a bike he had seen advertised on Facebook Marketplace.

Michael Ogbeide-John and Bilal Jama, respectively from the Longsight and Levenshulme areas of Manchester, made fake profiles and listings for bikes on the social media platform to lure their victims to meetings.

The 18-year-olds robbed the victims of the cash they had intended to use to buy the non-existent bikes.

In CCTV footage from 30 December 2024, Greater Manchester Police said Jama was captured leading one of the victims down an alleyway between Naburn Street and Daisy Bank Road in Manchester, saying he was taking him to a nearby garage to see the bike.

Bilal Jama (left) and Michael Ogbeide-John have been detained at young offenders' institutions

Ogbeide-John was then captured getting off a bike and running up behind the victim, assaulting him and putting his arms around his neck.

Police said "something sharp" was pressed below the chin of the victim, who then lost consciousness.

Ogbeide-John was captured looking through the victim's wallet before the pair fled, leaving the victim lying unconscious in the alleyway.

A passer-by called emergency services after finding the man, who suffered seven fractures to his jaw and needed full facial reconstructive surgery.

Ogbeide-John was detained at a young offenders' institution on Tuesday for four years while Jama received a three-and-a-half year sentence for the attacks between December 2024 and January 2025.