A father and a son from Oldham have been jailed for a combination of 32 years for their role in an Ebay scam which duped people and violently robbed them.

Mohammed Fareed and Faisal Farid had been on trial at Manchester Crown Court last month, where they jury heard their deception weaved people in from as far away as Dundee in Scotland, Newport in Wales, Northern Ireland and London.

People would turn up in Manchester or Oldham in the hope of buying a car which they had seen on Ebay but would be met with violent attackers who tried to get their money from them.

In total 14 robberies of attempted robberies took place between September 2019 and February the following year.

Fareed, 47, and Farid, 25, were found guilty by the jury earlier this month.

Mohammed Nazir, 24, of Manley Road, Oldham; Debra Brooker, 42, of Block Lane, Oldham; and Maros Petik, 19, were found not guilty of the offence.

Adam Marco, 21 and from Kent Street in Oldham, previously admitted conspiracy to rob on the basis that he had been recruited by others and was involved in one successful robbery and one attempted robbery in which no money was taken.

During the course of the trial it was heard that the father had got the son involved but the son’s technical knowledge on Ebay had assisted the scheme.

The son, giving evidence, admitted he was known as “Faisal the fraudster.”

Representing Fareed, of Lorne Street in Oldham, defence counsel Nichola Gatto said he had been on licence at the time of the offence from a jail sentence of 14 years for conspiracy to supply heroin.

She said he had been trying to set up a legitimate business.

She added: “There is no suggestions there was serious physical harm or serious psychological harm” as a result of the robberies.

Representing Farid, of Lowvale Drive in Oldham, defence counsel Stuart Duke said the conviction was devastating for his mother who had brought him up on her own and to obey the law.

He said he was the only one of his three siblings to be involved with his father, and had been led astray when his dad left his prison sentence.

He said: “I think Faisal Farid will learn a hard lesson from being involved in serious criminality.”

Representing Marco defence counsel Adam Lodge said he had been recruited to the scheme when he was in debt and he had expressed sympathy for the victims.

Judge Nicholas Dean QC, said of Fareed: “In my recollection I have never come across a more manipulative man, a man trying to keep himself at arm’s length from the criminality in which he was involved.”

He jailed Fareed for 20 years, Farid for 12 years and Marco for six years.