A 21-year-old man has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after being found guilty of assaulting two female police officers and a member of the public during a violent incident at Manchester Airport. Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, from Rochdale, was convicted of common assault and two counts of actual bodily harm following a four-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court. The offences stemmed from an altercation that took place at a Starbucks inside the airport in July 2024.

The incident attracted widespread attention after mobile phone footage circulated online. The video showed a young man lying on the floor being kicked in the face by a police officer, who then appeared to stamp towards his head.

However, CCTV footage later released to the media captured events leading up to that moment. The footage showed a confrontation involving three police officers, several of whom suffered injuries including concussion, a broken nose, bruising and swelling.

Jurors heard that Amaaz head-butted a member of the public before launching a series of attacks on responding officers. Evidence presented during the trial showed he threw 10 punches, two elbow strikes and a kick at police officers, including PC Lydia Ward and PC Ellie Cook.

Amaaz and his older brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, argued that their actions were carried out in self-defence, or in defence of one another, during an encounter with PC Zachary Marsden.

Two separate juries were unable to reach verdicts on allegations relating to PC Marsden. Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it would not pursue a third trial on those charges.

During sentencing, the court heard powerful victim impact statements from the officers involved.

PC Lydia Ward described the force of the attack that left her injured. "You knocked me to the ground with one punch, with so much force you broke my nose," she said, branding the assault as "cowardly". She also criticised Amaaz's public portrayal of events following the release of partial footage. "What angers me is that afterwards, when only part of the footage was out in the public, you played the victim," she told the court.

Recalling the moment she and her colleague were attacked, Ward said: "We were totally blindsided, and I felt like it came from nowhere."

"I never in a million years thought you would have attacked me the way you did," she added. "I'm still so confused about it all. It replays in my mind constantly."

Ward explained that the legal proceedings had overshadowed a significant period in her personal life after she gave birth last year. "In much of my maternity leave, I have had the worry of having to go back to court hanging over me," she said. "I have been unable to enjoy the experience as I should have. I'll never get this time back."

PC Ellie Cook also detailed the lasting impact of the attack, describing herself as "traumatised" by the incident. She told the court she was "terrified" during the confrontation and suffered "excruciating" pain. Amaaz's punches, she said, had "such power behind them that I thought I was being attacked by three to four people".

Cook recalled beginning the day excited about her career, having recently started a new role as a firearms officer at the airport. "I had recently started a new role at the airport as a firearms officer, and I was loving it," she said. She explained that the position was intended to be a stepping stone towards becoming a close protection officer with the Metropolitan Police. "When I woke up that day, I never could have imagined what was about to happen to me," she said.

Addressing Amaaz directly, Cook added: "I don't think you will ever begin to understand what you have done to me, or my family." "I used to be happy. I used to be driven. I used to be focused. I am now broken." Cook also expressed frustration over how the incident was discussed publicly in the aftermath. "It hurts and upsets me that you chose to spin the narrative the way you did," she said.

She explained that the intense public attention left her unable to escape reminders of the attack.

"Everyone was talking about it, and I couldn't escape," she said, adding that she eventually moved out of "a home where I felt safe and secure". The officer told the court she had been signed off work with duty-related trauma and that the consequences of the incident had forced her to reconsider her future in policing. "It pains me to say this, but because of what you have done to me, I have decided to give up being a firearms officer," she said. "This means my dream of becoming a close protection officer is on hold, and I may have to come to terms with the fact that it may not happen."