‘Not an option' to walk away from Manchester Airport suspect, court told

Powys County Times

14-07-2025

Walking away from a violent suspect at Manchester Airport was 'not an option', a police officer has told a jury.
Pc Ellie Cook fired her Taser at Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, after he and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, allegedly attacked her and two Greater Manchester Police (GMP) colleagues, fellow firearms officer Pc Zachary Marsden and unarmed Pc Lydia Ward.
The officers entered the paystation area of the Terminal 2 car park on July 23 following reports that a male fitting Amaaz's description had headbutted a member of the public in a Starbucks cafe at T2 arrivals.
Giving evidence at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, Pc Cook said: 'It was very clear what we were going to do.
'We had a violent individual in an international airport who needed to be arrested.
'My intention was to remove him from the paystation area due to the intelligence that he had used violence against a member of the public.
'I didn't want to give him a chance of using violence against myself or my colleagues or any other members of the public.
'When I approached him I saw Pc Marsden take hold of his left arm so I took hold of his right arm together with Pc Ward.'
She said Amaaz 'tensed up' and she felt resistance from him as she tried to put his arm behind the small of his back.
Pc Cook said: 'I then recall another male coming over and putting his arm over my shoulder.
'It seemed to me that he was trying to push Pc Marsden off and push him away from the male in blue (Amaaz).
'I turned my head slightly and saw Mr Amaad try to punch Pc Marsden.
'I then saw Pc Marsden try to deliver a strike to Mr Amaad to try to get him off.
'It looked like he missed.
'I then saw Mr Amaad come back at Pc Marsden.
'He tried to grab hold of him. At that time I delivered a strike to the face of Mr Amaad.
'I used my right fist.
'As I delivered the strike I felt a kick to my right leg.
'Shortly after I felt a punch to the right side of my head.
'My immediate reaction was to turn my face from where I thought that punch had come from.
'I saw Mr Amaaz punch me again in the same part of my head which then knocked off my police cap.'
She said it was 'quite obvious' from their uniform that they were police officers.
Asked by prosecutor Paul Greaney KC to describe the impact of the second blow, Pc Cook said: ' I have never felt a punch like it.
'It made me stumble slightly and made my vision go quite blurry for about a second.
'When my vision came back I turned to face the threat where I thought Mr Amaaz was and I saw him deliver a single punch to Pc Ward which knocked her to the floor.'
Mr Greaney said: 'What did you think by this stage you were dealing with?'
Pc Cook said: 'I didn't know what we dealing with. I just knew we were in a hostile situation.
'We were in a bad place and I didn't know what was going to happen next.
'The male in blue then turned back to face me and I ran back towards him to arrest him, to detain him.
'I approached him and I was then struck another couple of times.
'I don't recall how many.
'They connected with my head and my torso I think.
'They knocked me to the floor.
'I then knew that myself just using physical restraint was not going to be able to detain him.'
Mr Greaney said: 'An option would have been to just walk away, wouldn't it?'
Pc Cook replied: 'That was not an option to walk away from such a violent individual at that point.
'I joined the police to protect members of the public and if I walked away I would not have been doing my job.
'When I was knocked to the floor I turned to look towards Pc Marsden and saw the male in blue had jumped on his back and punched his head.
'At that point I didn't see where Pc Marsden's firearm was.
'There was a risk of it being taken from him. At this point we didn't know what the intentions of the two males were and what they were capable of.
'I didn't know why they were attacking us, whether it was to get weapons off us or whether it was just an attack.'
As she got back to her feet she said she realised she knew she was not as strong as the male in blue and did not want to get too close to him so she chose to deploy her Taser.
Pc Cook pulled the trigger and delivered an 'effective shot' at Mr Amaaz who fell backwards holding on to Pc Marsden, the court heard.
Footage of what followed as Amaaz lay on the floor later emerged on social media and went viral.
Mr Greaney said: 'The world knows that Pc Marsden delivered a kick to the face of Mr Amaaz, did you see that?'
Pc Cook said: 'I did.'
Mr Greaney said: ' At the time did you form any view on that?'
Pc Cook said: 'I don't believe Pc Marsden was aware that the subject had been subjected to the Taser due to the loud environment and everything that was going on.'
She said she then put her hand on Pc Marsden's body armour and said to him words to the effect of 'he is on my Taser, I have got him'.
Pc Cook told the prosecutor she did not witness the 'stamping motion' from Pc Marsden which followed the kick.
The officer, who joined GMP in July 2018 and qualified as authorised firearms officer in May 2024, later attended hospital for treatment to swelling to the right side of her head and pain to her jaw.
Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden and Pc Ward, causing them actual bodily harm.
He is also accused of the assault of emergency worker Pc Cook and the earlier Starbucks assault of Abdulkareem Ismaeil.
Amaad is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.
Both men, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations and claim they acted in lawful self defence.
Imran Khan KC, defending Amaaz, put it to Pc Cook that her colleague's kick to his client's head was 'quite a shocking thing to happen'.
Pc Cook said: 'I don't think it was.'
Mr Khan said: 'May I suggest it was quite a shocking view.'
Pc Cook said: 'On its own with no context maybe but not for me because I had been in the melee of what had just happened.'
Chloe Gardner, representing Amaad, asked Pc Cook: 'What was your reasoning for punching Mr Amaad directly to the jaw?'
Pc Cook said: 'Because he was obstructing officers in their duty and I had just seen him trying to grab Pc Marsden.'
Ms Gardner said: 'The only way to describe your force, PC Cook, is unlawful force isn't it?
Pc Cook said: 'I wouldn't agree with that.'
Ms Gardner said: 'It was completely unreasonable.'
Pc Cook said: 'If that's what you think.'
Ms Gardner said: 'And it was completely disproportionate.'