Man found guilty of assaulting female PCs in airport clash

A student has been found guilty of assaulting two female police officers at Manchester airport last summer during a violent disturbance which went viral on social media.

- Mark Brown Hannah Al-Othman

One of the officers, PC Lydia Ward, suffered a broken nose and fell to the ground after Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, punched her.

During a four-week trial, Ward told Liverpool crown court she was "absolutely terrified" and had "never experienced" such violence towards her during her police career.

The other officer, PC Ellie Cook, was struck twice by Amaaz's elbow and was also knocked to the ground, a jury heard.

Both officers and their colleague, PC Zachary Marsden, approached Amaaz at a car park ticket machine after a report that a man fitting his description had headbutted a customer at a Starbucks in the terminal two arrivals hall on 23 July last year.

Amaaz allegedly resisted and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, is said to have intervened. The prosecution said they had inflicted a "high level of violence" on the Greater Manchester police (GMP) officers.

Both defendants, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, told the court they had acted in lawful self-defence, or in defence of the other.

Yesterday a jury at Liverpool crown court found Amaaz guilty of the assault of PC Ward causing actual bodily harm and the assault of PC Cook.