Brothers on Trial for Assaulting Officer at Manchester Airport

Two brothers from Rochdale went on trial Monday at Liverpool Crown Court accused of assaulting an armed police officer during a violent altercation at Manchester Airport on July 23, 2024. Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, and his older brother Muhammad Amaad, 26, deny charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm to PC Zachary Marsden amid a chaotic confrontation that followed an initial brawl in a Starbucks cafe at Terminal 2.

The incident began when the brothers arrived at the airport to collect their mother, who had returned from Pakistan via Qatar. Prosecutors told the jury that the mother had some form of disagreement with Abdulkareem Ismaeil, a passenger on the same flight traveling with his wife and three young children. Shortly after landing, in the arrivals area around 8:20 p.m., the mother spotted Ismaeil inside the Starbucks with his family and pointed him out to her sons. The brothers then entered the cafe and confronted him.

CCTV footage shown to jurors captured Amaaz delivering a headbutt to Ismaeil's face, followed by punches with both hands. The altercation, which occurred in front of children, lasted only minutes before Amaad and the mother separated the pair. Amaaz...