PC denies losing control in Manchester Airport brawl, trial hears

A police officer has denied he “lost control” in the aftermath of being allegedly assaulted by two brothers at Manchester Airport.

Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and Muhammad Amaad, 26, are said to have struck out after police were called to a reported assault at the Starbucks cafe in Terminal 2 arrivals on July 23 last year, when Mr Amaaz is said to have headbutted a customer.

Jurors at Liverpool Crown Court were shown a photograph of injuries to the face of the defendants’ mother, said to have been caused as PC Zachary Marsden attempted to arrest Mr Amaaz at the terminal car park.

PC Marsden said it was “unclear” if his actions caused her injuries.

The Greater Manchester Police officer said: “I believe I was not the only person who made contact with Mrs Akhtar.”

CCTV footage played to the jury showed Mrs Akhtar knelt near to her son on the floor after a Taser discharge knocked him down.

Cross-examining PC Marsden, Imran Khan KC, defending Mr Amaaz suggested that the officer caused Mrs Akhtar’s injuries by hitting her with a Taser.

PC Marsden said: “I firmly believe that you can’t wholly attribute my actions to those injuries.”

Mr Khan said: “Did you push the Taser you were holding into Mrs Akhtar at the time she was tending to Mr Amaaz?”

PC Marsden said he did, and that he felt it was justified “in the circumstances”.

He said the mother grabbed his left leg, and when he tried to remove her grip she “clamped” onto his left hand pulling him forward.

“I was being pulled over Mr Amaaz and at risk of falling on top of him and being vulnerable,” he said.

Mr Khan said: “She was concerned for Mr Amaaz. She was not a threat. She was not interfering with anything you were doing and this was conduct, I suggest, where you have lost control.”

PC Marsden said: “I would deny that.”

Mobile phone footage was also played to the jury of PC Marsden later using Pava spray on a bystander who he said was effectively “shielding” another man who officers wanted to detain for obstructing their duties.

PC Marsden told the court he did this because events were “beyond verbal reasoning”.

The officer was then seen to grab the man around the neck and pull him to the floor, Mr Khan said.

Mr Khan said: “How do you justify putting your hands around a man’s neck?”

PC Marsden said: “Immediately prior, I had been subjected to the most violent assault of my life.

“I was now terrified that we are on the tipping point of another volatile situation. They were complicit in watching us being violently assaulted.

“I used pre-emptive force. I was in pain, exhausted and wanted to try the best I could to effect an arrest.”

When Mr Khan asked if the bystander was doing anything that required Pava spray in the face, PC Marsden said he was concerned that he would be “combative” which could lead to another “hostile fight”.

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

He is also accused of the assault of PC Ellie Cook and the earlier Starbucks assault of Abdulkareem Ismaeil.

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

Both men, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations.