This is the 22-year-old e-bike rider who was knocked down and killed by a road rage driver to ‘teach him a lesson’ for performing a wheelie.
Liam Jones – seen here on one of the electric powered bicycles – died after being shunted from behind and catapulted into a post
His killer, Abdirahman Ibrahim, 21, who was yesterday found guilty of murder, had taken exception to Mr Jones and his friend Tayzhon Johnson ‘showboating’ on their bikes.
He turned his vehicle round and hunted them down in his Seat Leon, eventually catching up with Mr Jones and ramming into him twice on a residential street in Birmingham on the evening of August 1, 2023.
The second collision proved fatal. Ibrahim fled the scene and left him to die in the street.
Phillip Bradley KC, prosecuting, told Birmingham Crown Court that the victim and his friend had been riding bikes near to the city’s Bullring shopping centre on the night he was killed
They started to head home at around 11.30pm to recharge the batteries on the bikes when they passed Ibrahim in Coventry Road.
Ibrahim, who was driving in the opposite direction, became enraged at them performing stand-up wheelies and used a roundabout to turn round and follow the pair.
Mr Johnson noticed the car on their tail and both men tried to evade the vehicle by riding down a one-way street.
However, Ibrahim followed suit and continued on to the residential street where he drove into the back of Mr Jones’ e-bike twice.
The second collision flung him off the bike and into a concrete post.
Mr Bradley told the jury: ‘CCTV footage captured both bikes doing wheelies.
‘You are going to have to consider the significance of that showboating.
‘One possibility you may want to consider is whether the defendant took umbrage at Mr Jones’ showboating.
‘To put it another way did it wind the defendant up? So he wanted to teach him a lesson, following him and we know what ultimately happened.’
Ibrahim denied murder and admitted manslaughter but was convicted during a retrial.
His first trial had been unable to reach a verdict after Ibrahim’s defence argued that he was a ‘competitive’ driver racing against two men on bikes.
However, prosecutor Mr Jones revealed during the retrial that Mr Jones had only been travelling around 20mph on a 30mph residential street before he was struck while the Seat hit a speed of just 27mph.
He said: ‘This was no accident. At the time of the fatal collision the defendant clearly intended him really serious harm.’
Ibrahim is expected to be jailed for life when he is sentenced on March 26.
His brother Abdullahi Ibrahim, aged 21, previously admitted a count of assisting an offender and will be sentenced on the same date.