Manchester Airport brawl accused ‘didn’t know’ he hit female PCs

A student who hit two police officers to the floor at Manchester Airport has told jurors he did not know they were women.

Mohammed Amaaz, 20, claimed he was acting in self-defence or defending his brother when he struck out at PCs Lydia Ward and Ellie Cook, as well as PC Zachary Marsden.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officers entered Terminal 2 car park’s pay station area on 23 July 2024 after reports that a male fitting Mr Amaaz’s description had just headbutted a member of the public.

Prosecutors say Mr Amaaz resisted arrest while Muhammad Amaad, 26, intervened, with both allegedly subjecting police to a “high level of violence”. Mr Amaad also denies assault.

Mr Amaaz previously told jurors he feared PC Marsden would “batter him” to death after he was grabbed by the head and neck and pushed downwards.

During cross-examination, prosecutor Paul Greaney KC asked Mr Amaaz whether he was “resisting” the attempts of officers to arrest him.

“If those officers wanted to detain me they could have simply told me so,” replied the accused.

“These officers had come and literally forced me straight into the ticket machine. They didn’t give me a second to think.”

Mr Greaney told members of the jury that Mr Amaaz went on to kick PC Marsden as the officer struggled with Mr Amaad.

And he said Mr Amaaz then punched PC Cook to the face.

He said: “You knew full well you were punching a woman.”

“No,” responded Mr Amaaz. “I didn’t know that at this stage.”

Mr Greaney pointed out to the accused that in CCTV footage he was looking straight in the direction of PC Ward when he then punched her to the face and broke her nose.

He said: “Can I invite you to acknowledge that you knew obviously she was a woman, a woman with long red hair?”

Amaaz replied: “Not at this moment, no. This has happened so quickly. It is a matter of seconds.”

Mr Greaney asked whether he thought PC Ward was part of a group trying to murder him.

Mr Amaaz said: “She was part of that group. I believed PC Marsden tried to kill me.”

The prosecutor asked the defendant: “Do you still believe that now?”

“Yes.”

Mr Greaney accused Mr Amaaz of being “wholly out of control”, something which the 20-year-old student denied.

The barrister then asked Mr Amaaz whether he thought PC Cook was “intent on killing” him.

He replied: “At this point I thought this officer is going to attack me. I didn’t think she would kill me.”

Mr Greaney said: “Do you agree that your violence knocked her to the ground?”

Mr Amaaz replied: “Yes, I struck her.”

Mr Greaney: “This is the second woman you have hit to the floor within seconds?”

“Yes,” replied Mr Amaaz.

Mr Greaney said: “All of this violence was offensive and entirely unlawful.”

Mr Amaaz disagreed.

He told the court: “These were police officers who were attacking me and my brother again and again, trying to kill us.

“This lunatic (PC Marsden) booted me in the head and stamped on me.”

Mr Amaaz denies assaulting PC Marsden and PC Ward, causing them actual bodily harm.

He also denies assaulting emergency worker PC Cook, and the earlier assault of a member of the public, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, at a Starbucks cafe in Terminal 2’s arrivals area.

Mr Amaad denies assaulting PC Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.

The trial of the brothers, both from Rochdale in Greater Manchester, will resume on Monday.