An armed police officer filmed kicking a man in the face at Manchester Airport told a jury he chose to use his boot rather than his firearm because deploying his semi-automatic pistol risked killing the suspect.
PC Zachary Marsden, giving evidence at Liverpool Crown Court, said he struck Mohammed Fahir Amaaz in the facial region after the 21-year-old had already been Tasered and fallen to the ground. The officer said he believed Amaaz was attempting to get up and attack him again and that he had run out of viable alternatives. His irritant spray would not have acted quickly enough, his extendable baton was ineffective at such close range, and his own Taser could not be deployed because its barbs were still connected to the chest of Amaaz’s older brother Muhammad Amaad, who had moments earlier repeatedly punched PC Marsden about the head.
“In other words you kicked him in the face?” prosecutor Paul Greaney KC asked. “Yes,” the officer replied. He said the intention was to stun Amaaz and buy him “precious time” to move in and regain control of the situation. He denied that anger, retribution or revenge played any part in the decision.
CCTV footage shown to the jury also captured PC Marsden appearing to stamp towards Amaaz’s head. The officer told the court the stamp did not make contact and that he had been attempting to pin down the dangling wire of his police radio so he could call for backup. He said he was still unaware at that point that his colleague PC Ellie Cook had already deployed her Taser on Amaaz.
The confrontation unfolded in a car park pay station area of the airport in July 2024, after officers moved to detain Amaaz following reports he had headbutted a passenger at a nearby Starbucks café minutes earlier. During the subsequent struggle, Amaaz punched and elbowed both PC Cook and unarmed officer PC Lydia Ward, breaking Ward’s nose, before grappling with PC Marsden. Amaad then joined the confrontation, delivering repeated blows to the officer’s head. PC Marsden told the jury his glasses were knocked off during the attack, leaving him struggling to see clearly throughout the incident.
The officer said he also delivered a kick to Amaad’s thigh when the older brother failed to comply with instructions to lie on the floor. Back-up officers arrived and helped restrain Amaad, though the court heard they had considerable difficulty handcuffing him due to his size and ultimately required two pairs of cuffs linked together.
PC Marsden was treated in hospital that night for bruising and jaw pain. He was subsequently diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome following the repeated blows to the head.
Representing Amaaz, Imran Khan KC put it to the officer that the force used had been unlawful and that his client had acted in defence of himself and his brother. PC Marsden rejected that account entirely. “I completely disagree,” he said.
Both brothers, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny assaulting PC Marsden causing actual bodily harm. The jury was told that Amaaz had been convicted at a previous trial last year of assaulting the Starbucks customer and of attacking PC Cook and PC Ward. The trial continues.
