An armed police officer filmed on CCTV kicking a suspect in the head at Manchester Airport may still face criminal charges, a court heard today.
PC Zachary Marsden has admitted kicking Mohammed Fahir Amaaz and then aiming a stamp near his head during the confrontation last July.
Along with two female colleagues he had been trying to detain the teenager for headbutting a passenger at a Starbucks café minutes earlier.
Instead Amaaz fought back, punching and elbowing the two policewomen – leaving one with a broken nose – a trial has heard.
Meanwhile his brother Muhammed Amaad, a former KFC assistant manager, began ‘pummelling’ PC Marsden, punching him six times, jurors have been told.
Finally police managed to Taser and handcuff the suspects, but video of the aftermath went viral on social media.
Five months later the Crown Prosecution Service decided that PC Marsden would not be charged with any criminal offence while Amaaz and his brother would face assault charges.
But today the trial of the brothers at Liverpool Crown Court was told that the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) could still ask for that decision to be reconsidered.
PC Zachary Marsden said he did not know his colleague PC Ellie Cook (left) had just Tasered headbutt suspect Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (in blue, lying on the ground) when he aimed a kick at his head
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, arriving at Liverpool Crown Court last week before he told a jury he fought back as an armed officer tried to arrest him because he feared he planned to ‘batter me to the point where I was dead’
Muhammad Amaad, 26, arriving at Liverpool Crown Court where he told a jury he fought back against an armed policeman because he thought he was ‘choking’ his brother, Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (pictured last week)
Muhammad Amaad, 26, (left) and his brother Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, (right) arriving for their trial at Liverpool Crown Court either side of their solicitor, Aamer Anwar
As evidence in the case drew to a close, prosecutor Adam Birkby told jurors the IOPC had been investigating ‘allegations of professional misconduct’ by PC Marsden towards Amaaz and members of the public’.
‘The IOPC investigation also encompasses a criminal investigation,’ he added.
‘On December 20, 2024 the Crown Prosecution Service publicly announced that PC Marsden would not be prosecuted for any criminal offence arising out of the incident.
‘It remains an open investigation and upon conclusion a decision will be made as to whether to refer the matter to the CPS if the IOPC decision-maker responsible for that decision believes there is sufficient new evidence for a re-referral.’
The court heard today that Amaad, 26, insists his conduct in aiming six punches at PC Marsden was in lawful self-defence.
Both brothers claim that PC Marsden and PC Lydia Ward ‘grabbed’ Amaaz from behind without announcing they were police officers or giving any explanation for their actions.
Today Amaad denied to Mr Birkby that the force he used in ‘delivering six punches’ to PC Marsden was unreasonable and unlawful.
Mr Birkby asked: ‘Is there anything in your behaviour that you would change?’
Amaaz (in blue) was seen to throw 10 punches at the officers during the violence, while his brother – Muhammad Amaad (far left), 26, who is also on trial – threw six
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (pictured left in blue) throws punches at PC Ellie Cook while his brother Muhammad Amaad (right, in black) grapples with her colleague PC Zachary Marsden
PC Zachary Marsden told jurors he was trying to clamp his radio wire with his foot when he stamped close to Amaaz’s head after the teenager had been Tasered
Amaad answered: ‘No. He started the violence and he carried on the violence.
‘Once PC Marsden had punched me, I defended myself.’
He told the court that he did not know that the police officers had been called to the Starbucks cafe in Terminal 2 to reports of Amaaz headbutting a plane passenger who had allegedly racially abused their mother on a flight from Pakistan.
Amaad told his barrister Chloe Gardner that he did not know what information the police had and ‘did not make any connection’ between the Starbucks incident and police approaching them at the pay station.
He said: ‘The whole thing felt like it lasted five seconds. It was so quick.’
Amaad is accused of assaulting PC Marsden, causing him actual bodily harm.
Amaaz, now 20, is accused of assaulting PCs Marsden, Ward and Ellie Cook and a member of the public, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, in the Starbucks cafe.
The brothers, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny all the charges and claim they were acting in self-defence or in defence of one another.
The jury are expected to begin their deliberations on Friday or next Monday.
The trial continues.
