Two brothers accused of assaulting a police officer at Manchester Airport will not face third trial

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Very good afternoon. We begin this hour with some breaking news. Two brothers accused of assaulting a police officer at Manchester Airport will not face a third trial. That's after two juries failed to reach a verdict. Muhammad Fahir Amaz and Muhammad Ahmad both denied attacking a male officer in July 2024.

[00:00:22]Amaz was previously convicted of assaulting two police officers and a member of the public in the same incident. He will now face sentencing for those charges.

[00:00:33]Our correspondent Shingi Mararike is at Liverpool Crown Court. Shingi, can you give us some more background to this case?

[00:00:43]>> Good afternoon, Sam. I think lots of people remember that fracas at Manchester Airport in July 2023 that went viral on social media. Well, in the last few moments we have learned that the two brothers involved in this case will not face a third trial related to that incident and we heard that the CPS will not be seeking a retrial. They will not be providing further evidence to do that and over the course of a very short hearing we heard the prosecution speaking on behalf of the CPS saying that there is a very clear presumption there will not be a third trial. That only happens in exceptional circumstances. It needed to be a case of extreme gravity and even though the count they faced, that count of assault against the male police officer who attended the scene was serious, they say it cannot properly be described as one of extreme gravity. Now, like you're saying, there is another trial that happened first of all in July 2024, just a year after the incident and in that case we know that Muhammad Fahir Amaz, the younger of the two brothers, was convicted of three charges of assault.

[00:01:45]So, he will be sentenced. That sentencing takes place on July 26th where where his brother Muhammad Ahmad can walk free and we're expecting him to come out of this court shortly.

[00:01:56]Right. Shingi, thank you very much for that update.

[00:02:02]Now, other breaking news to bring you.

[00:02:06]Two brothers accused of assaulting a police officer at Manchester Airport will not face a third trial. That's after two juries failed to reach a verdict. Muhammad Fiaz Amjad and Muhammad Ahmad both denied attacking a male officer in July 2024.

[00:02:23]Now, Amjad was previously convicted of assaulting two police officers and a member of the public in the same incident. He will now face sentencing for those charges.

[00:02:36]Let's bring in our correspondent Shingi Mararike at Liverpool Crown Court.

[00:02:42]Second time jury has failed to reach a verdict here, Shingi. Um, just bring us some of the background by way of reminder to this case.

[00:02:55]>> Well, Sam, I think a lot of people remember that incident that was caught on camera and shared widely on social media. That fracas at Manchester Airport in July 2023. Well, in the last hour or so, we now know that the two brothers involved in that incident will not face a third trial. The CPS saying that they are not going to put this up for retrial. And off the back of that, we have had response and reaction, including from MRN Anwar, who is the lawyer who was acting on behalf of the brothers over the course of those two trials in which he spoke more widely about their defense, the fact that they said they were acting in self-defense that day. But then he also spoke about the wider social media picture and the fact that they had been victims of what he called vile racist abuse. And I think we can hear a bit of the lawyer's statement outside court now.

[00:03:44]>> I'm instructed to make this statement on behalf of Fiaz Amjad and Muhammad Ahmad.

[00:03:49]The brothers are grateful to their legal team for their robust defense during the trial and the previous one held last year. The position of the two brothers has always been that they acted in self-defense. Social media posts viewed by millions created a highly prejudicial atmosphere in which a lynch mob mentality that was racist, anti-Muslim, called for deportation, riots, the death penalty, and the hanging of the two brothers if they were acquitted. Even their sister and their newborn baby were threatened.

[00:04:20]>> Both Mr. Paya Ammar, who is now in custody, has been in custody for some 10 months, and Mohammed Hamad have not just faced trial twice, but they have faced trial by social media. Their lives have been wrecked.

[00:04:34]>> So, some strong words there from Amar Anwar, the lawyer acting on behalf of the brothers involved in this case. But, I just wanted to walk you through the now lengthy legal timeline related to this. So, there was a trial last July in which Mohammed Ammar, the younger brother, was found guilty of assaulting PC Lydia Ward and PC Ellie Cook, two of the other officers who attended the scene in that incident, as well as being found guilty of assaulting a member of the public. A retrial was then ordered because they could not reach a verdict on the allegations that both brothers faced that they assaulted PC Zachary Marsden. Now, we know that we know that over the course of this over the course of this this case, there was also an IOPC IOPC investigation ongoing. And off the back of that, we have a statement from them in which they say, "Following a protracted trial, the jury have been unable to deliver a verdict. Whilst disappointed that the prosecution prosecution case was not fully endorsed, we respect the findings of the court and accept the outcome from the jury's thoughtful deliberations." It then goes on, "Whilst the criminal trial is now concluded, we are cognizant of the ongoing IOPC investigation into the conduct of our officers. We will continue to cooperate fully with this investigation and we look forward to its conclusion in due course. In terms of what happens next, we know that Mohammed Omar who has been remanded in custody will be sentenced on 26th June, but his brother has walked free while the conversation around this case as well as the IOPC investigation continue.

[00:06:06]>> Shingi Fennell, thank you. And we should just apologize to our viewers there for the expletive that you might have heard from some of the people behind our correspondent while he was doing his live with us.