A man has been jailed after attacking two police officers and a member of the public during a violent incident at Manchester Airport.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison over the shocking 2024 attack.
He was found guilty of assaulting PC Lydia Ward and PC Ellie Cook during the incident on July 23. PC Ward suffered a broken nose after Amaaz punched her in the face.
PC Cook was also attacked, with Amaaz punching and elbowing her to the ground.
Speaking during sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court, PC Ward said: “You chose to attack a female. You knocked me to the ground with one punch, with such force that you broke my nose.
“How would you feel if a man did that to your mother? How would you feel if your mother was standing here today explaining how she was violently assaulted by a man?
“What you did was cowardly.”
She said the assault left her with a small scar that still serves as a constant reminder of the attack.
PC Ward also criticised Amaaz for portraying himself as the victim after partial footage of the incident circulated online.
“You are not the victim. I was injured, not you,” she told the court. “You had the whole world listening to you and showed no remorse at all.
“You allowed people to feel sorry for you and acted as though we had done something wrong, when we were simply doing our job.”
She added that the abuse directed at her on social media had been “disgusting” and said Amaaz could have stopped the backlash by telling the truth.
Officers were initially called after reports that a man matching Amaaz’s description had headbutted a member of the public inside the airport’s Starbucks café.
Amaaz later headbutted Abdulkareen Ismaeil, claiming the man had racially abused his mother.
When officers attempted to arrest him and his brother, both resisted. Prosecutors said Amaaz used a high level of violence, throwing 10 punches, two elbows and a kick at PC Zachary Marsden.
Footage later showed PC Marsden kicking and stamping on Amaaz, a clip that went viral before full video of the incident was released.
PC Cook told the court she was deeply upset by how the incident was portrayed publicly.
“All you had to do was admit you made a huge mistake and take responsibility,” she said.
“Instead, you put all of us at risk. Our faces were everywhere in the national media. Everyone knew who we were.”
She said the backlash forced her to move out of her home and added she still suffers shooting pains in her jaw, frequent headaches and sleep problems.
The injuries also forced her to step away from her role as a firearms officer, putting her dream of becoming a close protection officer on hold.
Back in May, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it would not pursue a separate trial involving Amaaz and his 26-year-old brother, who had been charged with assaulting PC Marsden.
Both men were later acquitted after arguing they acted in lawful self-defence or in defence of each other.
