Man from Longsight receives Valentine’s Day card with a sentence of 14 years for stabbing on Slade Grove last May

On Friday 14 February 2025, Akeam Hibbert (25/12/1999) of Bolton, was handed a Valentine’s gift of 11 years for Section 18 assault at Manchester Crown Court, after he stabbed a man in Longsight in May 2024.

He will serve an extra three years on extended licence due to meeting the criteria of being a dangerous offender. He will serve two-thirds minimum before considerations can be made for his release.

Back in mid-May 2024 (17^th), four men were present at an address on Slade Lane where they were chatting, drinking and smoking in the kitchen for a couple of hours before they got into a verbal dispute. 

During the dispute, Hibbert made threats to stab one of the men, as the others tried to calm him down. But Hibbert continued to move towards the victim and stabbed him with a kitchen knife.  

At around 6:15pm we were called to reports of a stabbing on Slade Lane in Longsight, Manchester where Hibbert fled the scene. 

Our officers alongside colleagues from the North West Ambulance Service attended and found a man in his 20s with a stab wound to his chest. 

The victim was taken to hospital where he was in a critical condition at the time. Fortunately, his condition improved, and he became stable. 

After being on the run for over a month, enquiries escalated him to be wanted due to the evidence retrieved from the incident, and we arrested Hibbert after our Tactical Vehicle Interception Unit (TVIU) made a tactical stop after receiving intelligence sighting him travelling in a car.

This was after our Force Critical Wanted Unit (FCWU) were able to use their resources to track his movements and use the element of surprise to conduct the arrest to prevent any further harm to the community.

He was initially charged with attempted murder but entered a guilty plea to a Section 18 assault which was accepted prior to the trial.

Detective Constable Patrick Winstanley from GMP’s City of Manchester CID, said: “Since this incident happened we have been working with a number of resources available to us to ensure we brought justice for the victim who is thankfully making a recovery.

"It has been a real team effort in Longsight to secure the evidence and ensured we were able to make sure Hibbert had to answer for his actions on that day.

"Any incident of knife crime is one too many, but as a collective as a force we are continuing to take more knives off the streets, educate people around the dangers of carrying weapons and for those intent on causing harm you will have to pay the consequences."