Latest news with #airportbrawl
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Daily Mail
Armed officer who kicked Manchester Airport 'brawl' brother in the head is 'an uncontrolled bully with a badge', court hears
The armed police officer who kicked a suspect in the head in an airport brawl was 'an uncontrolled bully with a badge ', a court was told today. Police Constable Zachary Marsden had 'defied protocol, ethics, procedure and the law' in the confrontation inn the pay station area of Terminal Two at Manchester airport last July, the jury was told. The trial at Liverpool Crown Court has heard PC Marsden along with PCs Ellie Cook and Lydia Ward were involved in the fracas with brothers Mohammed Amaaz, 20, and Muhammed Amaad, 26. The violent clash was sparked when the officers tried to arrest Amaaz for an earlier assault on a man at the Stabucks café inside the terminal, the jury has been told. CCTV and mobile footage which included PC Marsden kicking Amaaz in the head and stamping on him has been played several times in the four-week trial. Chloe Gardner, defending Amaad, told the jury in her closing speech the CCTV was without sound and was like 'a jigsaw puzzle' with the prosecution asking the jury 'to guess the final picture'. Ms Gardner likened the assessment of the CCTV evidence to watching a TV crime drama with the sound turned down. She said: 'I had Criminal Minds on the TV and I did not have much of a clue about what was going on because the sound was off. I could get the gist but not the full picture. 'CCTV plays a central role here. It can be helpful but it comes with big warning signs because there is no audio and certainly cannot convey what is going on in someone's mind . 'Both sides in this case have played a fair amount of CCTV footage, sometimes at slow speed. We tend to forget how quickly this happened. It was a matter of seconds which has changed the lives of the defendants.' She said the victim in the Starbucks incident, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, has decided not to take things any further and had not given evidence. Ms Gardner said: 'The prosecution say "we have the CCTV and that is all the evidence we need". They have given you a jigsaw puzzle and have asked you to guess the final picture. You cannot assess the stature of Mr Ismaeil and whether he was getting wound up, hostile and intimidating. 'The prosecution have not brought Mr Ismaeil here to fill in the gaps by giving evidence.' She said that it was 'crucial' PC Marsden had 'strode into the pay station' and had grabbed Mr Amaaz without announcing he was a police officer. Ms Gardner said: 'Imagine if grabbing someone and not saying anything became standard police practice. Police Constable Marsden threw away the rule book long ago. His behaviour was aggressive and uncontrolled.' She said Amaa had said 'easy, easy, easy, easy, easy ,no , no ,no' in a bid to de escalate the situation. Ms Gardner continued: 'But these words had zero effect of PC Marsden, who was covered in that red mist. He had no regard for procedure or doing things the right way. He acted how he wanted. His way was the only way.' 'The reality is that PC Marsden, with his firearm and his Taser, was a firearm in himself.' She said PC Marsden hit the brothers' mother in the face with his Taser during the struggle and had continued to assault Amaad even when he had his hands on his head and when his brother was handcuffed on the ground. Ms Gardner said the officer had smashed Mr Amaad's face in the ground when he was trying to restrain him and had placed his knee on his neck. She said: 'PC Marsden could have killed Mr Amaaz with the kick and he could have suffocated Mr Amaad.' Trial judge Neil Flewitt told the jury they will begin their deliberations on Monday after he has summed up the evidence in the case. Amaaz denies one charge of assault by beating, two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm and one charge of assault by beating of a police officer acting as an emergency worker. His elder brother Muhammed Amaad,26, is accused of one charge of assault causing actual bodily harm on PC Marsden. The brothers from Rochdale, Greater Manchester claim they were acting in self defence.
Daily Mail
09-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Armed police officer filmed kicking suspect in the head in Manchester Airport brawl denies aiming another stamp at him
An armed police officer who was filmed kicking a suspect in the head during an airport brawl has denied aiming a further stamp on him. Zachary Marsden told a court he was trying to clamp his radio wire with his foot when near the head of suspect Mohammed Fahir Amaaz as he lay on the floor. A jury at Liverpool Crown Court was shown CCTV footage of the kick and stamp to the head of Amaaz at Terminal Two of Manchester airport in July last year. Firearms officer Mr Marsden has admitted kicking suspect Amaaz, 20, in the head during the fracas at the pay station in Terminal Two at Manchester airport last July. The attempted arrest sparked a brawl involving Amaaz, his brother Muhammed Amaad, 26, and three officers which was filmed and went viral on the internet. Amaaz denies one charge of assault by beating, two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm and one charge of assault by beating of a police officer acting as an emergency worker. Amaad is accused of one charge of assault causing actual bodily harm on PC Marsden. The brothers, from Rochdale in Greater Manchester, say they were acting in self defence. PC Marsden has spent his third day in the witness box where he was further cross-examined by Imran Khan KC, who is representing Amaaz. He denied Mr Khan's suggestion that he had stamped on Amaaz's head because 'the red mist had fallen and you had lost control'. Mr Marsden said he was trying to hook the wire of his radio, which was dangling from his body, around his foot to create ' a clamp ' because he feared Amaaz could grab the device and pull him to the floor. He said: 'I was not aiming for his head - I was aiming for the wire. 'I am not justifying a stamp to the head - it was never my intention to stamp on anyone's head and I do not believe that I made contact with his head.' Mr Marsden also denied suggestions he had pushed his Taser into the face of Amaaz's mother Shameem Akhtar as she knelt beside her son on the floor . Mr Khan told the witness: 'She was bending over with her hand on her son's head - she was trying to protect her son's head.' Marsden responded by saying: 'I still deny trying to stamp on his head. 'I was trying to clamp the wire. My vision was impaired and I was disorientated, having been punched ten to 15 times.' The officer was shown a photograph of Mrs Akhtar which showed a facial injury, as Mr Khan asked him: 'Did you cause that injury? ' Mr Marsden replied: 'I believe it is unclear whether it was or was not my actions which caused this injury. 'I believe I was not the only person to make contact with Mrs Akhtar.' Mr Khan said that Mr Marsden had hit Mrs Akhtar with his Taser. The police officer told him in response: 'I acknowledge what you are suggesting and I am disputing it. 'I firmly believe you can wholly say it was my actions. I pushed her twice with my right hand. I believe it was justified and proportionate in the circumstances. 'She was grabbing my leg and I was being pulled forwards. Using my left hand, I took hold of her grip to remove it.' Mr Khan asked: 'What was she preventing you doing which required you take that action?' Mr Marsden said he was being prevented from placing handcuffs on Amaaz, adding: 'I was being pulled over and risked being pulled on top of him. I was vulnerable.' Mr Khan said the CCTV showed there was a 'hard push' of Mr Marsden's Taser into the face of Mrs Akhtar and suggested he could have used his hand. Mr Marsden told the court: 'It was a fast-paced incident. 'There was no time to use my hand. I needed to act quickly to control him.' The officer was also questioned over using a pepper spray on an onlooker called Mr Ali Rahman who was with two relatives filming the incident on their phones. The jury was shown mobile phone footage of officers trying to arrest a man named as Saaed Rahman on suspicion of obstructing the police. Another man called Ihsman Rahman protested: 'We have just come off the plane - we have not done anything.' Amaaz appeared to still be grappling with one officer before he was hit with the Taser shot Having 'deemed' that his assailant was 'a threat', PC Marsden said he struck Amaad (pictured right) in the face with his first in an attempt to push him away Mr Marsden said that other officers were pointing Tasers at the three men and he decided to use his pepper spray as 'a less lethal option ' to help secure the arrest. He agreed that he had said after the incident that there were '10 to 15 of them against the three of us'. He added: 'The crowd was hostile. No one in that room was trying to help us. They watched us being violently beaten again and again.' Cross-examining Pc Marsden, Chloe Gardner, defending Amaad, said: 'I suggest that you and your colleagues were the aggressors.' Pc Marsden said: 'I can only account for my actions. I deny what you allege." Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden and Pc Lydia Ward, causing them actual bodily harm. He is also accused of the assault of Pc Ellie Cook and the earlier Starbucks assault of Abdulkareem Ismaeil, while Amaad is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden, causing actual bodily harm. Both deny the allegations. The trial continues.
The Sun
08-07-2025
- The Sun
Officer who kicked man in the head during Manchester airport brawl says he acted ‘professionally'
THE police officer filmed kicking a man in the head during an airport brawl has told a court he acted 'professionally'. Firearms cop Zachary Marsden has admitted kicking Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, while he was on the ground, last July. 3 3 PC Marsden told a jury he was trying to arrest Amaaz for headbutting another man in a cafe at Manchester Airport. Marsden said he was aware of the "crowd dynamic' in the pay station area and wanted to remove Amaaz from the area in case of an adverse crowd reaction. He said: 'Based on my experience as a police off icer, affecting an arrest in a crowd can create its own crowd dynamic risk. "It would be better to remove him from the crowd. 'I did not want to operate within the crowd which could give them the opportunity to escalate the situation." The brawl, which also involved Amaaz's brother Muhammad Amaad, 26, and two other officers was filmed and went viral on the internet. Both brothers, from Rochdale, deny assault charges and claim they acted in self defence. Their lawyer Imran Khan KC told Liverpool crown court Amaaz saw PC Marsden aim his Taser at his brother and may have believed it was a gun. The trial continues. Moment man 'headbutted dad at Manchester airport before brawling with cops' 3
