"all I could feel was blood pouring out of my nose."
A 20-year-old man has been convicted of assaulting two female police officers during a violent disturbance at Manchester Airport.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz was found guilty at Liverpool Crown Court after a three-week trial.
He was convicted of causing actual bodily harm to PC Lydia Ward and assaulting emergency worker PC Ellie Cook during the incident on July 23, 2024.
Footage of the altercation, which took place at the airport’s car park pay station area, was widely shared on social media.
Amaaz was also found guilty of an earlier assault on a member of the public, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, at a Starbucks café in the arrivals area earlier the same day.
According to the prosecution, officers were responding to reports of a man, later identified as Amaaz, headbutting a member of the public.
When approached near a ticket machine, Amaaz resisted arrest and a violent struggle broke out.
The jury was shown CCTV footage of the incident.
A viral video shortly after the attack showed a panicking PC Ward while colleagues tried to calm her down.
PC Ward was said to have been “left terrified as the incident unfolded”.
In the clip, the constable cried: “I think my face is f****d!
“He f****d up my nose. He f****d up my face!”
PC Ward told the court she suffered a broken nose during the attack. She said:
“As I came round, all I could feel was blood pouring out of my nose.
“I was just thinking he has done something to my nose, face area, I didn’t know what has happened.
“I was terrified to be honest. I was absolutely terrified. I had never experienced that level of violence towards me in my life.”
She recalled “falling on the floor and everything went black” after receiving a “really forceful” blow to her face.
Amaaz’s brother, Muhammad Ahmed, also stood trial. However, the jury could not reach verdicts on whether either man assaulted PC Zachary Marsden, who was also at the scene.
Mike Peake, chairman of the Greater Manchester Police Federation, said Amaaz’s conviction showed the “worst side of police work our officers are faced with”.
He said: “Police officers in Manchester work in a difficult, dangerous, and dynamic world where there is no such thing as a routine incident.
“They deserve support in that work from the public and politicians.
“[Thirty-five] officers are assaulted in Greater Manchester Police every week. We are bloodied and we are bruised.
“We have been supporting the officers concerned in the incident at Manchester Airport last summer since it occurred. And as a federation, we will continue to do so.”
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