Police officer left with broken nose after Manchester Airport brawl tells court she was 'absolutely terrified'

A police officer who had her nose broken after being punched to the floor at Manchester Airport has told a court she was "absolutely terrified".

Jurors were shown footage of PC Lydia Ward with blood streaming from her nose following the incident.

The court heard she was attacked by Mohammed Fahir Amaaz in July 2024 after officers tried to arrest him for allegedly headbutting a man in an airport Starbucks.

Footage shows him resisting and a brawl breaking out between police, Amaaz, and his brother Muhammad Amaad.

PC Ward said they intended to detain Amaaz and take him outside but he started to "tense up and resist" when colleagues took hold of him.

"Things escalated very quickly. It just went from nought to a hundred," she told Liverpool Crown Court.

She said she had Amaaz's arm behind his back when he began kicking out at PC Marsden and then "punched me straight in the face".

"I can't really remember where it landed but I know where my injuries were. I remember falling on the floor and everything went black," she said.

The officer, who said she was "petite" and weighed eight stone, told the court it was the first time such violence had been used against her.

"As I came round, all I could feel was blood pouring out of my nose," said PC Ward.

"I was just thinking he has done something to my nose, face area, I didn't know what has happened."

The officer - who joined the force in 2018 after being a special constable - said she was "absolutely terrified".

"I didn't know who was going to come up at me next," she told the court. "I was scared of going after this male again and being punched in the face again."

She said other people in the car park pay area were filming on their phones and "shouting stuff".

"Nobody came to assist. I felt everyone in that room was against us," PC Ward added.

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Defence lawyer Rosemary Fernandes suggested 20-year-old Amaaz had been "taken by surprise" and believed he was being attacked when police approached him.

She argued he punched PC Ward in "lawful self-defence on the basis that you were an assailant".

"It is important you identify yourselves as police officers, isn't it?" she asked.

"I don't think we had any time to do that," replied PC Ward. "We didn't have any time for rational discussion with this male as it turned violently quickly."

She said it would have been obvious to the defendant that she was a female police officer.

Amaaz is alleged to have caused actual bodily harm to PC Ward and PC Marsden.

He is also accused of the assault of PC Cook and the earlier assault in Starbucks of Abdulkareem Ismaeil.

His brother, Amaad, is also alleged to have caused actual bodily harm to PC Marsden.

Both men, from Rochdale, deny the allegations. The trial continues.

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