Manchester Airport brawl accused ‘feared police would kill him’

A man accused of assaulting police officers during a brawl at Manchester Airport has told a jury he thought one of them was going to kill him.

Mohammed Amaaz, 20, and his brother Muhammad Amaad, 26, are alleged to have struck out after police tried to make an arrest in the Terminal 2 car park’s pay station area on 23 July 2024.

Mr Amaaz told Liverpool Crown Court he had felt someone grab him and was “frightened”, saying he feared “he would just have battered me to the point where I’ve died”.

The prosecution have alleged the brothers – who deny assault and insist they acted in lawful self defence – subjected officers to a “high level of violence”.

Mr Amaaz told the court the person who grabbed him did not identify themselves or explain why they were doing so.

He said moments later he turned and recognised it was a police officer.

The defendant said PC Zachary Mardsen grabbed his head and neck and tried to force him to the ground.

Mr Amaaz told the jury: “I was frightened. I just didn’t want to go down to the ground.

“I believe if he forced me down to the ground he would just have battered me to the point where I’ve died.

“He would have killed me.”

When asked by defence barrister, Imran Khan KC, why he thought this, Mr Amaaz replied: “It’s not like it’s not happened in the past.

“Some police officers have abused their powers and some people have died.”

Mr Amaaz said he did not realise that PC Lydia Ward was a police officer or that she was a woman.

He said he was trying to protect his brother.

The court has previously heard PC Ward suffered a broken nose after being punched in the incident.

Mr Amaaz also told the court that, at one point, he saw PC Ellie Cook pointing what he thought was a gun at his brother without realising it was actually an electronic stun gun.

“Honestly I thought they were going to shoot and kill my brother,” he told members of the jury.

The court heard Mr Amaaz ran towards PC Marsden and struck him from behind before PC Cook fired her Taser at him.

Mr Amaaz said: “I believed I had saved my brother’s life then, all of a sudden, it feels like all the energy has just gone out of me.

“It felt like the soul being sucked out of my body and everything went stiff.”

He said he thought he was “dying” as he held on to PC Marsden as they fell to the ground.

Footage of what followed as Mr Amaaz lay on the floor later emerged on social media and went viral as PC Marsden kicked him to the head and was seen to stamp near him.

While on the ground Mr Amaaz said he heard “shouting and screaming”.

He continued: “I remember a boot coming straight for my face. As soon as it hit me, it knocked me out for a few seconds and I think the stamp woke me up.

The defendant said that while he could not see the stamp at the time, he felt “a sort of shove downwards to the floor”.

Jurors have been told that three police officers went to make an arrest after a confrontation involving a man who had been on a flight with the brothers’ mother.

Mr Amaaz is accused of headbutting a customer at a Starbucks cafe in Manchester Airport’s arrivals area.

He said the incident was “self-defence”.

Mr Amaaz told the jury: “Throughout the whole incident, me and my brother was under attack. I was trying to protect myself and him.

“I just felt I was fighting for my life.”

Earlier, Mr Amaaz told the court one of his brothers, his uncle and five of his cousins were or had been Greater Manchester Police officers.

He said he had no hostility towards the police, and his relatives had shown him there were “good and bad police officers out there, just as there are good and bad people out there”.

Mr Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted PC Marsden and PC Ward, causing them actual bodily harm.

He is also accused of the assault of emergency worker PC Cook, and the earlier assault of a member of the public.

Mr Amaad is alleged to have assaulted PC Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.

Both men, from Rochdale, deny the allegations and their trial continues.