Man jailed for assaulting female police officers in Manchester Airport attack which went viral

Man jailed for assaulting female police officers in Manchester Airport attack which went viral Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, has been jailed for three-and-a-half years after attacking two police officers and a member of the public at Manchester Airport in July 2024 A man who attacked two female police officers at Manchester Airport has been jailed. Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, assaulted PC Ellie Cook and PC Lydia Ward, who was unarmed and suffered a broken nose after she was punched in the face. Amaaz was captured throwing 10 punches, two "elbow strikes" and one kick in the incident on July 23, 2024. Amaaz was convicted of assaulting the two female officers and headbutting a man named Abdulkareem Ismaeil after confronting him at a Starbucks inside Terminal 2. He was sentenced to three years and six months in prison at Liverpool Crown Court today. Sgt Ward, who was a PC at the time of the attack, told the court she was "petrified" by Amaaz’s "utterly terrifying and cowardly attack", saying she was his "punchbag". She was left with a scar on her nose after having it broken in the assault. With her voice trembling, she told the court: "It’s hard for me to think back to the incident. I have so many unanswered questions and I struggle to make sense of it all. "I question myself a lot; what did I do to deserve it? Did I do something wrong? I’m not sure I’ll ever get my answers, but today what I do get is a chance to explain to you how you made me feel and how you have changed who I am forever." The officer continued: "Look at me, standing here. What do you see? I’ll tell you what you see. You see a female. A female who is 5ft2 and at the time of the incident I weighed no more than 8 stone. "You are a male and you chose to attack me without a second thought. 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." Sgt Ward also challenged Amaaz about how sudden his attack was, saying: “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. "I have never seen anyone so violent. I have never been so scared. It was utterly terrifying. What angers me is that afterwards, when only part of the footage was out in the public, 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." PC Cook, who was a firearms officer at the airport, said in a statement that her life was "changed forever" by the attack. Her statement read: "I don’t think you will ever begin to understand what you have done to me, or my family. I used to be happy. I used to be driven. I used to be focused. I am now broken." PC Cook added that she had to be signed off work in February last year due to duty-related trauma. She explained that the attack also made her lose "so much weight" as she could only eat mushed up food due to being unable to open her jaw. The officer added she still has shooting pains in her jaw when she yawns, regular headaches and trouble sleeping. She too has criticised Amaaz for “spinning the narrative the way you did”. PC Cook said: "It pains me to say this, but because of what you have done to me I have decided to give up being a firearms officer. I just can’t face it at the minute." Prosecutor Paul Greaney KC outlined how Amaaz delivered "multiple blows" to PC Cook and six of them landed. Mr Greaney said had she not deployed her Taser, "it’s obvious the violence would have continued". The attacks took place in view of children, including those of Mr Ismaeli, who were clearly distressed to see their father being attacked. The incident happened after Amaaz and his older brother Muhammad Amaad, 26, picked up their mother from a flight. Imran Khan KC, mitigating for Amaaz, said the defendant comes from a large family “in which there are various police officers”. His brother, Mr Amaad, described him as a ‘caring’ man who had always helped members of his family. Another reference said he had "always been there for the people around him", while another mentioned his charity work. Another said the defendant was "caring, attentive and always makes sure people around him are ok". Another brother, Mohammed Abid, said the defendant had played an important role caring for their mother and was willing to support ‘vulnerable’ family members. The attack has been described as "not what Fahir is" and "completely alien to his character". The defence barrister said his client was "perhaps not thinking of the consequences" when he went to the defence of his mother. "The instinct is to protect," he said. "These offences took place in a context of a young man who wanted to help others," said Mr Khan, who went on to say the offence was "not premeditated". The barrister said he was reacting to officers he didn’t know and that he was “reacting to unlawful force by the officers and therefore he was defending himself”. His conduct was “in defence of his brother”, the court heard. Amaaz had had no previous interaction with police officers nor the criminal justice system until this case, according to Mr Khan. The court was also told he was close to his mother and a report by probation officers said there was a "strong" prospect of rehabilitation. Mr Khan said: "He has a future that he can rebuild if there is a short prison sentence." Amaaz and his brother Mr Amaad both faced assault charges in relation to PC Zachary Marsden, who was present at the airport with PC Cook and PC Ward. Juries in two separate trials could not reach verdicts about one count of assault on an armed police officer - PC Marsden - and a judge then formally entered not guilty verdicts in May. However, Amaaz was found guilty of assaulting Mr Ismaeil by beating, assaulting PC Ward, occasioning her actual bodily harm and assaulting an emergency worker, PC Cook, by beating at the first trial. A week later, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided it would not seek a third round of proceedings and so Mr Amaad walked away a free man. Footage of the confrontation at the pay station of the Terminal 2 car park went viral on social media at the time. The brothers, from Rochdale, insisted that they acted in self defence. Jurors in the second trial could not return a conclusion after deliberating for almost 20 hours. The officer’s conduct is still investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct - the police watchdog.