Facebook and Gumtree knife robber Jalees Ahmad jailed

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-48066002

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A man who carried out a series of knifepoint robberies after choosing his victims through social media has been jailed.

Jalees Ahmad, 20, from Filton, near Bristol, targeted people selling mobile phones on Facebook and classified ad website Gumtree.

Police said he threatened victims with a hunting knife when he collected the items and then stole the phones.

Ahmad was sentenced to 10 years in prison at Bristol Crown Court.

PC Harriet Drewett, from Avon and Somerset Police, said the robberies were "terrifying", with some people being threatened in their own homes.

She said: "In one of the incidents, a victim was stabbed as he tried to defend himself. He's still recovering from his injuries and needs crutches to get around.

"Ahmad was caught after leaving the sheath for his hunting knife at the scene of one of the robberies. We were able to recover forensic evidence from the sheath which provided a DNA match to Ahmad.

"During our investigation we located the hunting knife at Ahmad's home and found CCTV footage of him topping up a mobile phone he used to contact one of the victims."

The robberies were carried out over a 12-day period between 2 and 13 March. Victims were targeted across Bristol, Keynsham, Kingswood and Weston-super-Mare.

Ahmad was jailed for five counts of robbery, one of theft, five of possessing a bladed article and possession with intent to supply cannabis.

A previous suspended sentence was also activated as a result of his offending.