Jury fails to reach verdicts in retrial of brothers accused of Manchester Airport assault
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, and Muhammad Amaad, 26, were alleged to have inflicted a “high level of violence” in July 2024
A jury has failed to reach verdicts in the retrial of two brothers accused of assaulting a police officer at Manchester Airport.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, and Muhammad Amaad, 26, were alleged to have inflicted a “high level of violence” in causing actual bodily harm to Pc Zachary Marsden in July 2024 during a fracas which went viral on social media.
Both denied the charge and told Liverpool Crown Court they acted in lawful self-defence, or in defence of the other.
Jurors were discharged by Judge Neil Flewitt KC after deliberating for nearly 20 hours.
The case was adjourned until May 29 to give time to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether it wants to seek a third trial.
The judge thanked the jury of eight women and four men for their “hard work” over five weeks.
Last July, Amaaz was found guilty of assaulting Pc Lydia Ward and Pc Ellie Cook during the same incident on July 23.
A retrial was ordered last year after no verdict was reached against him or his brother on the Pc Marsden allegation.
The three Greater Manchester Police officers entered the Terminal 2 car park paystation after reports that a male fitting Amaaz’s description had headbutted a member of the public at a Starbucks cafe in the airport minutes earlier.
The prosecution said Amaaz resisted their attempts to take him outside and Amaad then intervened.
But the brothers, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, said their actions were defensive rather than offensive as they said they came “under attack”.
Pc Ward suffered a broken nose as she was floored by a punch to the face from Amaaz who also knocked Pc Cook to the ground with a series of elbows and punches.
Amaaz claimed he did not realise Pc Ward and Pc Cook were women as “it was happening so fast, I couldn’t process the little details”.
He was also convicted at the previous trial of assaulting the member of the public, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, in Starbucks.