A man has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for assaulting two female police officers at Manchester Airport, punching one in the face and breaking her nose.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, from Rochdale, attacked PC Lydia Ward on July 23, 2024, punching her in the face, knocking her to the floor and breaking her nose. Amaaz then assaulted a second female officer, PC Ellie Cook.
Amaaz was also convicted of an earlier assault on a member of the public at a Starbucks inside Manchester Airport and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
Speaking at the sentencing, one of the officers read a victim impact statement at Liverpool Crown Court. She said: “I want you to take a good look at me. You chose to attack a female. You knocked me to the ground with one punch, with so much force you broke my nose.
“How would you feel if a male did that to your mother? How would you feel if it was your mother standing here today explaining how she was violently assaulted by a male? What you did was cowardly.”
Events of the incident
The incident occurred in a car park pay area in July 2024 when Amaaz and his 26-year-old brother, Muhammed Amaad. went to collect their mother from a flight.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
Police were initially alerted after the brothers went into a Starbucks and Amaaz headbutted a man, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, who he claimed had racially abused his mother on the plane.
As officers approached the brothers aggressively, they resisted, with the court hearing that the brothers said they did not know they were being approached by police.
Malcolm McHaffie, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime Division, said: “This was a violent incident in front of families in a busy airport which left a police officer needing medical assistance. The CCTV footage and witness testimonies demonstrated to the jury exactly how the incident unfolded. It clearly showed the defendant acted unlawfully, leading to the sentence today.”
Prosecutors said that Amaaz threw 10 punches, two elbow strikes and a kick, whilst Amaad threw six blows at firearms officer PC Zachary Marsden.
CCTV footage of the incident sparked controversy on social media, as videos showed PC Marsden kicking and stamping on Amaaz.
Victim statement
PC Ward said: “What angers me is that afterwards, when only part of the footage was in the public domain, you played the victim.
“You are not a victim. I am the one who was injured, not you. You had the whole world listening to you and you showed no remorse. Not one ounce. You allowed the public to feel sorry for you. You made out like we had done something wrong when all we were doing was our job.
“The day you attacked us was different. We were totally blindsided, and I felt like it came from nowhere. I genuinely thought you would have agreed to come outside for a conversation about what you had done in Starbucks. There were no indications. I never in a million years thought you would have attacked me the way you did. I’m still so confused about it all. It replays in my mind constantly.
“In the moments before you punched me, I remember you looked directly into my eyes. Could you see how scared I was? I was petrified. I just remember hitting the floor and thinking ‘this is it’. I felt instant pain and then I saw the blood. I didn’t know what was going on.
“I watched as you took down my colleagues. I tried to get up onto my feet, I had no choice, I needed to help them. What was going on? The whole situation was so confusing. I have never seen anyone so violent. I have never been so scared. It was utterly terrifying,” PC Ward said in her statement at court
Amaaz was found guilty by the jurors at Liverpool Crown Court of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against PC Ward, and of assaulting PC Cook and Mr Ismaeil.
The brothers were also jointly charged with assaulting firearms officer PC Marsden, but the jury failed to reach a verdict last month, with prosecutors deciding not to proceed with a third trial.
Amaaz and Amaad claimed they acted in lawful self-defence, or in defence of each other.
