
A student has been found guilty of attacking two female police officers during a large violent disturbance at Manchester Airport.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, was charged with assaulting the Greater Manchester Police officers during the fracas on 23 July last year, with mobile phone footage of the incident being widely shared on social media.
Following a three-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Amaaz was convicted of assaulting PC Lydia Ward, causing actual bodily harm, and the assault of emergency worker PC Ellie Cook.
After 10 hours of deliberating, the jury was unable to reach verdicts on allegations that Amaaz and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, assaulted PC Zachary Marsden causing actual bodily harm.Amaaz was also found guilty of an earlier assault of a member of the public, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, at a Starbucks cafe in the airport’s arrivals area earlier in the day.
The court heard how PC Zachary Marsden, PC Lydia Ward and PC Ellie Cook had entered the airport car park’s pay station area following reports of a male fitting Amaaz’s description headbutting a member of the public. Prosecutors said Amaaz had resisted as he was grabbed from behind at a car park ticket machine, before the prolonged violence broke out.
He was seen to floor PC Ward with a punch to the face which broke her nose and also knocked PC Cook to the ground.
He was also alleged to have punched PC Marsden from behind and then had hold of him before PC Cook discharged a Taser device.
A kick and stamp by PC Marsden as Amaaz lay on the floor was also shown in the footage.
Both defendants, from Rochdale, told the court they had acted in lawful self-defence, or in defence of each other.
Giving evidence, Amaaz said he feared the “lunatic” male officer would “batter him to death” while Amaad said he believed he was under attack.
The defence claimed the officers had used “unlawful force” as they grabbed Amaaz from behind without announcing themselves.
The court heard PC Ward suffered a broken nose in the incident, during which she remembered “falling on the floor and everything went black” after a “really forceful” blow to her face.A student has been found guilty of attacking two female police officers during a large violent disturbance at Manchester Airport.