This is the moment a female police officer was left sobbing and bleeding after being punched in the face during a brawl at Manchester Airport.
Constable Lydia Ward, who jurors heard is heavily pregnant, told of being ‘terrified’ after coming under attack – as new police footage of the incident was shown to a court.
She was one of three officers who went to arrest Mohammed Fahir Amaaz at Terminal Two last July.
A trial at Liverpool Crown Court has been shown CCTV footage of Amaaz, 20, swinging a punch towards the officer, hitting her in the nose – and today new scenes captured on bodyworn police cameras were revealed showing her distress.
PC Ward, who described herself as ‘quite petite, 5ft 2in and 8st’, told the court that she was part of the three-officer team going to arrest Amaaz on suspicion of headbutting a man minutes earlier in a Starbucks café.
The unarmed officer said she had gone into a pay station area alongside armed officers Zachary Marsden and Ellie Cook to arrest Amaaz after he had been identified as a suspect on CCTV.
She told how Amaaz punched her after she tried to drag him away from her colleague PC Marsden who was grappling with Amaaz’s brother Muhammed Amaad, 26.
The attempted arrest was followed by a brawl involving Amaaz, Amaad and three officers that was filmed and went viral online.
Constable Lydia Ward, who jurors heard is heavily pregnant, told of being ‘terrified’ after coming under attack – as new police footage of her injuries were was shown to a court
Footage showed the aftermath of the brawl as Pc Lydia Ward was left bloodied and distraught
A trial at Liverpool Crown Court has been shown CCTV footage of Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, swinging a punch at Manchester Airport – with PC Lydia Ward hit in the nose
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz is seen arriving at Liverpool Crown Court at the start of his trial
Amaaz’s brother Muhammad Amaad, 26, is also on trial over the alleged attack at Manchester Airport (he is seen arriving at Liverpool Crown Court on June 30
Footage from a body worn video camera of a female police colleague was played to the jury which showed a bloodied and crying Pc Ward being comforted in the aftermath of the incident.
Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden and Pc Ward, causing them actual bodily harm.
He is also accused of the assault of Pc Cook and the earlier Starbucks assault of Abdulkareem Ismaeil, while Amaad is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden, causing actual bodily harm. Both men, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations.
PC Ward has now said to the court: ‘We had gone in, all three of us, and I remember taking the arm of the suspect.
‘My concentration was on, trying to take his arm to place it behind his back to put the handcuffs on him but then it escalated very, very quickly.
‘I cannot recall if I said anything – it was loud and noisy in there and we had no chance to say anything because it escalated very quickly.
‘Amaaz started to tense up and resist. I felt his muscles tightening. He was not wanting to be placed anywhere – it felt like he was resisting. It just escalated from there – it went from nought to 100.’
She was asked by junior prosecution counsel Adam Birkby: ‘What did that resistance indicate?’
New police bodyworn camera footage shown to the court showed Pc Ward being comforted
Pc Lydia Ward has told Liverpool Crown Court how she was left ‘terrified’ by the attack
Footage from a body worn video camera of a female police colleague was played to the jury which showed a bloodied and crying Pc Ward being comforted in the aftermath of the incident
Officers arrested suspects following the violent scenes at Manchester Airport last July
The Crown Prosecution Service released footage of the airport brawl that happened last July
PC Ward replied: ‘That this was a person who was starting to be violent and did not want any interaction with the police. Mr Amaad started interfering.
‘There was some sort of fracas with PC Marsden and PC Cook. They were trying to get him away to make the arrest – it appeared to be physical.
‘I had hold of Amaaz’s arm and was trying to put the cuffs on him. At that point, I remember that PC Marsden had somehow had fallen, or had been pushed onto, some seats and Amaaz started booting him – kicking him really hard.
‘He was raising his leg and properly booting him. I tried to grab him off and to stop the kicking PC Marsden. I remember he just then turned round and punched me straight in the face.
‘I just wanted to keep hold of his arm to stop him kicking PC Marsden – I was trying anything to stop him kicking PC Marsden.
‘I remember it landed and it going black and getting a thud in my face, then falling to the floor – everything going black and then coming round. It was really forceful. I have never been punched in my life .
‘I have never in my whole time in the police service had someone use that level of violence towards me – I have been assaulted before but never had that level of violence before.
‘I fell really hard. I just remember thinking, “He’s knocked me out” – I remember hitting the floor and everything going black.’
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
Armed PC Zachary Marsden was trying to control Amaaz (pictured on the floor in blue)
She went on to recall trying to get herself ‘back up’ while feeling ‘the blood pouring out of my nose and blood coming onto my hands’.
Pc Ward added: ‘It was all in spots on the floor. I thought, “He has done something to my nose or face area.”
‘I thought, “I have got a bad injury here” – I was terrified, I was absolutely terrified. I have never experienced that level of violence.
‘I did not known if there was someone in that crowd who was going to take the next swing at me or whether the male was going to go after me again and punch me in the face.’
She also described how onlookers were ‘shouting and filming stuff on their mobile phones’, adding: ‘No one was coming to help or assist.
‘It felt like everyone in that room was against us. It was honestly terrifying. I was just terrified of them coming near to me because of the hostility I felt from everyone there.’
PC Ward said that she had seen two men in the area while struggles were going on, with PC Marsden pointing a Taser at them.
The female officer, who said she was not Taser trained, decided to draw her pepper spray, telling the court: ‘I thought the two men were trying to impede.
An armed police officer who was filmed kicking a suspect in the head during the Manchester Airport brawl earlier this week denied in court aiming a further stamp on him
PC Zachary Marsden told jurors he was trying to clamp his radio wire with his foot
‘I was telling to go back but they were not listening. I thought they were going toward my colleague.
‘I thought they were interfering and I thought we were getting into a further conflict. I was terrified of being assaulted again.’
PC Ward said she pressed the emergency red button on the top of her radio to call for back-up but later realised that the battery had been knocked out during the fracas.
She told the jury: ‘I am quite petite, 5ft 2in and normally 8st. There have been times when I have called for back-up because things have got out of hands.’
The officer told the jury that she later went to hospital where it was confirmed that she had suffered a broken nose that was later realigned after surgery.
The trial continues.
