A female police officer who was punched in the face during a brawl at Manchester Airport told her attacker: “You changed my face” – before branding him a coward who “played the victim”.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, was sentenced to three and a half years in jail at Liverpool Crown Court after being convicted of assaulting PC Lydia Ward and PC Ellie Cook. The attack happened on July 23 last year at the airport’s terminal.
“Mohammed Fahir Amaaz jailed for three and a half years after punching female police officers at Manchester Airport.”
Mobile phone footage of the incident was widely shared online, sparking protests after a young Asian male was seen lying on the floor while being kicked in the face by a male police officer. But a CCTV clip leaked to the press days later revealed that, beforehand, several punches were thrown towards the male firearms officer and his two female colleagues.
Amaaz and his brother Muhammad Amaad, 26, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, were also charged with assaulting PC Zachary Marsden during the same altercation. However, juries at two trials failed to reach a verdict on that count, and the Crown Prosecution Service decided last month not to pursue a third trial.
In a powerful statement read to the court, PC Ward – now promoted to sergeant – addressed Amaaz directly: “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?” She added: “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.”
At 5ft 2in and 8st, the sergeant urged him to “take a good look at me”, saying she would not let him see her as weak. “You used me as a punch bag, but I will get back up, and I will show you how strong I am,” she said. She also revealed she had been forced to bring her newborn with her when she gave evidence, calling the court “no place for a baby”.
The second officer, PC Cook, told the court she had put her dream of becoming a close protection officer on hold, leaving her “broken”.
Sentencing, the judge described the assault as “cowardly”. The attack has left both officers with lasting physical and psychological scars – but, as PC Ward made clear, she refuses to be seen as a victim.