An Ealing teenager has been jailed for a series of knife-point robberies targeting a housing estate.

Ayman Ghazoini responded to online ads for people selling mobile phones and mopeds, only for the sellers to be greeted with a group of men armed with knives and a bike chain.

Targeting the Brunel Estate and Great Western Road areas of Westbourne Park, Ghazolini would either threaten the unsuspecting sellers or take the mopeds for a test drive and never returned.

The 18-year-old from Second Avenue in East Acton , carried out the robberies between January 6 and January 28, 2018. The crimes led to a Metropolitan Police investigation, and Ghazoini was arrested on February 1.

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Ghazoini's criminal activities were in breach of a youth referral order he had been serving, and he was sentenced to four years imprisonment for breaching that order.

A jury at the Old Bailey found him guilty of three counts of robbery with a knife and two counts of theft on Monday (August 6). That same day he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for each count of robbery and nine months’ imprisonment for each count of theft.

However, all of his sentences are to run concurrently, so his total sentence to serve is five years.

The jury found him not guilty of one count of attempted robbery and one count of robbery.

Ayman Ghazoini was under a youth referral order at the time of his robbery spree

Detective Constable Andrea Hewes, the investigating officer from Westminster Crime Squad, said: “We quickly established that the same suspects were behind the robberies and after a thorough investigation, we identified Ghazoini.

“A warrant was carried out at his home address where we found the mobile phone that had been used to contact the victims with the intention of purchasing their unwanted property.

“We are pleased that someone who used threats of violence has been sentenced to such a significant time and prison. Our enquiries into the other people involved remain ongoing.”

Anyone with information about the robberies is asked to contact Westminster Crime Squad via 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.