‘Not an option' to walk away from Manchester Airport suspect, court told
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.'
Pc Cook replied: 'I disagree.'
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Did YOU witness the crash? Email: dan.woodland@mailonline.co.uk
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The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Bus driver arrested after three seriously injured in bridge crash that tore off roof
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Scottish Sun
4 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
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I'd have to make sure that she was okay, that she was sleeping on her side, that she's wasn't sick in her sleep. 'And then the same thing happened again and again and again. NOWHERE TO TURN 'I'd lock the windows. I'd take her phone off her. I'd have the keys to the front door hidden under my pillow. Advertisement 'At the time, I didn't know about grooming gangs, I just knew something wasn't right with these older men wanting to be with my daughter. 'I used to talk to Jamie's friends so I started to realise what was going on. Eventually I found out she had been raped and I tried to get help. I went to the police, I went to social services. 'It felt out of my control. I tried everything. 'Social services said at one point she was the most reported missing girl in Oldham.' Advertisement Harrowingly, Louise believes she has blocked out some of the details of her daughter's abuse from her mind, as she struggled to come to grips with it. 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Advertisement 'I think they wanted to take her voice away, discredit her and discredit me Louise Hopwood 'I felt frightened for her because the comments I was reading were absolutely horrendous. People wanted to string her up. 'People were stopping and shouting at her in the street. "I believe police did that because she was making complaints that she was being groomed. 'I think they wanted to take her voice away, discredit her and discredit me. Advertisement 'So now she's been criminalised, she hasn't got a voice anymore, she can't speak. 'They do it to whistleblowers, they take their voice away by calling them racists. 'They had no reason to put her face everywhere. There were loads of kids getting ASBOS, why did they pick her. 'It was absolutely disgusting.' 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'NO CONTROL' 'They were driving outside the care homes and picking girls up, waiting for girls to walk from the care homes and pulling them over, offering them drink, offering them money, drugs, everything. 'I just felt I'd lost everything, I had no control. Advertisement 'I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know if she was missing. I was constantly worried and on edge all the time because I didn't know if she was safe. 'I used to close my eyes at night time and I used to have visions of Jamie dead and lying in a gutter. And I can still see that now, it haunts me. 'I would visit her at the care home and social workers told me to back off. 'They said the work that they were trying to do with her, I was spoiling it and I need to back off. Advertisement 'But I kept going. I used to ring the homes up to see if she was back home on a night and if she wasn't back I'd report her missing.' 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Advertisement In recent years, both Jamie and her mother have given evidence to Operation Sherwood, a GMP investigation into cases of historic child sexual exploitation in Oldham, and so far this year 12 men have been arrested in connection with the probe. However no men were arrested at the time of the offences against Jamie. 'I haven't got a clue why it's taken so long for arrests,' she said. 'I gave them enough information to arrest at the time but it was ignored. It's 15 years too late. How much evidence has been lost? Advertisement 'They left it open for more girls to be abused and that's unforgivable.' Louise and Jamie said the grooming and way they were treated by authorities has taken a huge toll on their family and relationships. 'FAILED BY SERVICES' Recently they've painstakingly gone through copies of Jamie's social services file, in an emotional bid to try and piece together what happened and figure out what went wrong. 'We've been failed by services,' Louise said. Advertisement 'It's affected all our family relationships. Her older brother felt helpless, every lad who has younger sister always want to make sure they're safe. So he feels he couldn't protect her or he let her down. He's struggling. 'It's took a toll on my and Jamie's relationship, we've had our ups and downs, she has blamed me for things, it's been rocky. 'It's awful for the survivor of course, but it's bad for everyone around them too 'We've been through all the reports from social services together. It was hard and it made us both angry. Advertisement 'I went to every meeting without fail and the one meeting I didn't go to, and they put block capital letters that I didn't turn up because I was waiting for a TV repair. Making out I put the TV priority over my daughter. 'I've been to all these meetings. I was at the care home all the time. I listened to everything that they were saying. I did everything they said and it never helped. Authorities respond Greater Manchester Police said: 'We have fully accepted our past failings in tackling this horrific abuse and are working with a number of survivors, who have placed their faith in the GMP of today and are supporting our active retrospective investigations. 'These are long and complex investigations, but our commitment is unwavering, and we will not allow passage of time to be a hindrance. 'HMICFRS and Ofsted published a report last week highlighting significant improvements we have made in how we protect children, respond to abuse, and investigate non-recent cases of CSE. 'GMP remains focused on listening to survivors and advancing our effective practice still further. We owe it both to those abused in the past and to our children today to sustain this most pressing of priorities, and we continue to give our commitment to do just that. 'We are actively investigating and supporting Jamie as we progress her case. While we understand that the impact of her past experience cannot be undone, we are confident that victims' experiences today would be significantly improved compared to those of previous years." Oldham Council said: "I want to commend Jamie Leigh for her extraordinary courage in speaking out and sharing her story. Her bravery is not only deeply moving but plays a vital role in ensuring that survivors are heard, and that real change continues to happen. "Across the country, councils, the police, and other agencies failed those affected by child sexual exploitation in the past. Oldham was no exception and we apologise again to survivors and their families. "We also recognise that these horrific crimes have not disappeared, but we are more determined than ever to root out those who abuse and exploit children. We will not rest until every child is safe and those responsible are held fully to account. "Oldham is absolutely committed to learning from the past. Thanks in no small part to the tenacity of survivors like Jamie Leigh, we are leading the way in tackling child sexual exploitation, putting survivors at the heart of our efforts, and doing everything in our power to ensure the mistakes of the past are never repeated. "We welcome both local and national inquiries, and we are clear that survivors must be at the centre of this process. Their voices are essential to building a safer future for every child." "I never stopped fighting yet I feel like I constantly have to defend myself. 'It's hard to admit but I do feel like a bad mum. I carry a lot of guilt. But I did the best I could. Advertisement 'I think if I had the right support, Jamie would have been better off with me, in my home. 'I'm not saying I was a perfect mum, but I have always been a loving mother and when they took Jamie away from me she had no one. 'And they took her to an even worse situation where the groomers had free reign.' Louise believes that the police officers who failed Jamie should be prosecuted and there should mandatory training for all officers on how to deal with child sexual exploitation. Advertisement BROKEN SYSTEM 'Yes they should be prosecuted because they shouldn't treat anybody like that,' she said. 'They see a child being raped and then say she's a prostitute? It's wrong. 'There needs to be some sort of public consequence so that these people in the services know that they can't get away with it in the future.' While Jamie was in care, Louise tried to set up a parent's group for other families who had been affected by grooming, backed by police – but no one turned up. Advertisement She believes that police who had promised to advertise the event never did, although she has no proof of this. But she's now committed to helping parents of sexual abuse survivors past and present and has set up a group in Oldham called Parents Matter. Mum's heartbreaking poem Deperate Louise wrote this poem to try and put her anger and frustration into words and let other parents know they're not alone: Why let these groomers, Near our kids, You should believe the child, Not the perpetrators fibs. Night after night, My heads in tatters, Is my girl safe, That's all matters Day after day, No education, Not home from school, Want her home the desperation. Send her out in the morning, To school she goes, Knowing she won't be back, The anxiety shows. Reporting her missing, Nothing is done, Ringing the police, The groomers carry on. Early hours in morning, My girl returns, Been drugged and used, So much hurt it burns. At least she's alive, Even though she's been through hell, Socail services ain't helping, She's becoming a shell. Im desperate for help, Nothings being done, Please someone help, My little one. I close my eyes, The visions I see, Is my girl dead in a gutter, Oh God the anxiety. Please help my girl, I'm begging you, She's not to blame, You know it too. Not a wink of sleep Weeks go by My girl still goes missing Still no help WHY? Now months go by, Its still going on, Your turning a blind eye, My girl you put the blaime on. Now years of this, She's now in care, She still going missing, This isn't fair. Now she's an adult, All the trauma she's had, Trying help her stay strong, Mums here in good and bad. My girl my warrior, I'm so proud of her She also has a list of recommendations she wants to make to those in power to stop grooming – which she believes is still happening in our communities – in its tracks. 'I've spoken to police officers, schools and asked them what can be done to stop this," she said. Advertisement 'There's people in suits who think they know it all, putting things in place, but they're doing it wrong. They've not lived it like us, and they should listen to us. 'Just things like they would organise meetings for Jamie to discuss the grooming at 9am in the morning. 'She'd been out all night, being abused, drugged, filled with alcohol til 4 or 5am and then she wouldn't turn up to the appointment. 'Then the services would turn around and say 'Oh, look, she doesn't want to work with us' and they'd give up.' Advertisement Louise said she supports the National Inquiry, announced by PM Keir Starmer in June, 'if they do it properly' but she worries that some girls are still reluctant to speak up because they are afraid of prosecutions if they recruited other girls – or even having their kids taken away if they disclose their vulnerable mental health. Louise and Jamie say they still have a lot of anger towards the perpetrators and the services that failed them but have decided to turn their anger at the situation into a positive by helping other parents and survivors. 'I just want to help other parents and help put a stop to this.' Louise said. 'I don't want other parents or children to go through what I went through or what Jamie went through. We can't change the past but we make changes now and improve a broken system.' Advertisement Police and social services both accepted their failings in relation to Jamie's case in statements to The Sun. Greater Manchester Police said it had "fully accepted our past failings in tackling this horrific abuse" and it was "actively investigating" the case. Oldham Council added: "Oldham is absolutely committed to learning from the past. Thanks in no small part to the tenacity of survivors like Jamie-Leigh, we are leading the way in tackling child sexual exploitation, putting survivors at the heart of our efforts, and doing everything in our power to ensure the mistakes of the past are never repeated."
