Man accused of assaulting police at Manchester Airport says he didn't know two officers were women

A man accused of assaulting three police officers at Manchester Airport last year has told a court he did not know two of them were women.

Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, is accused of assaulting the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officers as they attempted to arrest him in the Terminal 2 car park on 23 July 2024.

PC Zachary Marsden and PC Ellie Cook, as well as PC Lydia Ward, tried to detain him for allegedly headbutting a man in an airport Starbucks.

Prosecutors say Amaaz resisted arrest and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, intervened.

Police 'didn't give me a second'

Amaaz previously told Liverpool Crown Court he was acting in self-defence and feared he would be "battered" to death by PC Marsden.

Appearing before the court on Friday, Amaaz was asked if he was resisting arrest, and said: "If those officers wanted to detain me they could have simply told me so."

He then said: "These officers had come and literally forced me straight into the ticket machine. They didn't give me a second to think.

"My brother intervenes because this officer is trying to force me down to the ground."

'This has happened so quickly'

Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, told the court Amaaz kicked PC Marsden as he struggled with his brother, and that Amaaz then punched PC Cook to the face.

The prosecutor then said "you knew full well you were punching a woman," which Amaaz denied, adding: "I didn't know that at this stage."

The prosecutor noted CCTV footage showed Amaaz strike PC Cook with his elbow and knock her cap off, and told him: "She has got long blonde hair in a ponytail, I ask you to acknowledge that you knew you were delivering blows to the face of a woman?"

Mr Greaney also noted that, according to footage, Amaaz was looking in the direction of PC Ward when he punched her and broke her nose.

"Can I invite you to acknowledge that you knew obviously she was a woman," he said, "a woman with long red hair?"

Amaaz responded: "Not at this moment, no. This has happened so quickly. It is a matter of seconds."

Mr Greaney then asked whether Amaaz believed PC Ward and PC Cook were attempting to murder him, to which Amaaz said: "A police officer had struck me I thought.

"I was trying to protect myself... She [PC Ward] was part of that group. I believed PC Marsden tried to kill me."

Officers were 'trying to kill us'

The prosecutor told the court that "there was absolutely nothing defensive in punching that woman [PC Ward] in the face" and said Amaaz was "wholly out of control" - which he denied.

Amaaz then said: "These were police officers who were attacking me and my brother again and again, trying to kill us.

"This lunatic [PC Marsden] booted me in the head and stamped on me. If that's not enough he elbowed my mother in the face with a Taser.

"And if that's not enough he punched my brother in the back of the head twice."

Read more from Sky News:
'Gangster granny' jailed
Under-fire water regulator could be scrapped
Warning over life-threatening condition linked to Botox

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

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

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

Both men, from Rochdale, deny the allegations. The trial continues.

(c) Sky News 2025: Man accused of assaulting police at Manchester Airport says he didn't know two officers were