Rochdale man sentenced for assault on police officers and customer at Manchester airport

A man has been sentenced to three and a half years in jail after being convicted of assaulting two female police officers and a member of the public at a Starbucks in Manchester airport. Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, from Rochdale, was convicted of common assault and two counts of actual bodily harm, after a four-week trial at Liverpool crown court last year. Mobile phone footage of the brawl, which took place in July 2024, was shared widely on social media following the incident. It showed a young Asian man kicked in the face on the floor by a male police officer, who then appeared to stamp towards his head. Days later, a CCTV clip, leaked to the media, showed an altercation beforehand with three police officers, who sustained injuries including concussion, a broken nose and bruising and swelling. Footage played to the jury showed Amaaz head-butting a member of the public, and throwing 10 punches, two elbow strikes and one kick at the responding police officers, who included PC Lydia Ward and PC Ellie Cook. He and his fellow defendant, his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, from Rochdale, had claimed they acted in lawful self-defence, or defence of each other, against the male police officer, PC Zachary Marsden. Two juries could not make a decision on the charges relating to PC Marsden, and the Crown Prosecution Service last month said it would not seek a third trial against the brothers. …