Officer Testifies to Broken Nose in Airport Arrest

A police officer testified at Liverpool Crown Court that she suffered a broken nose after being punched in the face during a violent confrontation at Manchester Airport's Terminal 2 pay station on July 23, 2024.

PC Lydia Ward, who was unarmed, described entering the area with two colleagues, including armed officer PC Zachary Marsden, to arrest Mohammed Fahir Amaaz following an earlier assault at a Starbucks in the terminal. The 21-year-old from Rochdale and his brother Muhammad Amaad, 26, both deny assaulting PC Marsden and causing him actual bodily harm. Amaaz had already been convicted in a prior trial of assaulting PC Ward, armed officer PC Ellie Cook, who sustained minor injuries, and a member of the public at the coffee shop.

Ward told jurors she grabbed Amaaz's right arm while Marsden took his left, intending to handcuff him. "Things just escalated very quickly," she said. Ward said Amaaz tensed and stiffened in resistance. She recounted seeing Amaad, dressed in grey, interfere and obstruct the arrest, distracting her colleagues. As she tried to secure Amaaz, Ward said she witnessed him kick Marsden "with great force, in a really violent way."