How man at the heart of Manchester Airport brawl walked away free... and why his brother could now be released: PAUL BRACCHI reveals what happened at court, their startling links to police force... and huge bill for taxpayers

By PAUL BRACCHI and JAMES TOZER, NORTHERN CORRESPONDENT Published: 17:42, 29 May 2026 | Updated: 17:42, 29 May 2026 How much did the case against the brothers at the centre of the now-infamous Manchester Airport brawl cost the taxpayer? It was an estimated £2 million, with much of it going to the two teams of highly paid barristers for either side – six in total including two eminent KCs. The figure, of course, doesn’t include all the police time and resources devoted to the investigation. Yet, after nearly two years, two trials and endless headlines – the fracas which left three officers (two of them women) injured was hugely controversial – verdicts could not be reached on whether Muhammad Amaad, 26, and Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, assaulted PC Zachary Marsden, ‘using a high level of violence’ causing actual bodily harm, or whether they acted in lawful self-defence, or defence of each other. It would be hard to remember another example where the conclusion of the jury, as opposed, say, to the sentence imposed by a judge, which has divided public opinion to such an extent. The brothers will not be tried a third time – which would have been almost unprecedented – the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced today. Only once in recent memory has this ever happened. In 2006, William Dunlop was jailed for life for strangling Julie Hogg and hiding her body under a bath at her home after juries twice failed to find him guilty. Putting Amaad and Amaaz in the dock for a third time, however, would have been difficult to justify in the public interest whatever views you might hold on the outcome of the Manchester Airport fracas which erupted at 8.28pm on July 23, 2024. The costs of mounting another prosecution alone would have been prohibitive. What is not in dispute are the injuries PC Marsden sustained. Medical reports presented to Liverpool Crown Court showed he suffered post-concussion syndrome that left him with speech difficulties, severe headaches, and episodes of dizziness. Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, left, and Muhammad Amaad at Liverpool Crown Court last year Amaaz was previously convicted of assaulting two female officers, PC Lydia Ward and PC Ellie Cook, and a Starbucks customer, and will be sentenced next month Amaad walks away from Liverpool Crown Court a free man without a stain on his character and younger sibling Amaaz, convicted at the previous trial of brutally attacking PC Ellie Cook and 5ft 2in PC Lydia Ward – who was seen staggering tearfully to her feet with blood streaming down her face from a broken nose – will not face an increased sentence. So given that offenders typically only serve between 40 per cent and 50 per cent of their time anyway to help manage prison capacity, Amaaz, who has spent the past nine months in custody for attacking the officers and headbutting a holidaymaker, could be released soon. Firearms officer Zachary Marsden, on the other hand, remains under investigation by the police watchdog over use of force and could, potentially, still face criminal charges. ‘While we are disappointed a verdict could not be reached, we respect the outcome of the court process,’ is all the Greater Manchester force would say said in a carefully-worded statement. Recent events will do little for morale within GMP, one of the biggest forces in the country, where an average of more than 35 officers are assaulted every week. The airport confrontation sparked a fierce debate over the use of force by the police, leading to accusations of George Floyd brutality, on the one hand, after a one-sided clip of PC Marsden showing him stamping on the head of Amaaz became a viral news event, and allegations of ‘two-tier justice’, on the other, because of the length of time it took to charge the brothers. It epitomised the dangerous role social media can play in such situations. The incident began when the three officers attempted to arrest the brothers following an altercation with a holidaymaker – Abdulkareem Ismaeil – at Starbucks inside the Terminal 2 building which culminated in Mr Ismaeil, who they believed had insulted their mother on the flight home from her native Pakistan, being headbutted by Amaaz. But the uploaded mobile phone clip did not show the headbutt or the brothers lashing out at the officers attempting to arrest them, only the conclusion of the incident with Amaaz lying face down on the ground with PC Marsden’s boot on his head. The footage led to hundreds of protesters, many wearing face masks, descending on the GMP divisional HQ in Rochdale in what many regarded as mob rule on the streets of Britain, something which has become all too common, on both sides of the political and cultural divide. Tensions were undoubtedly inflamed by their solicitor Akhmed Yakoob, a colourful and controversial figure known as the ‘TikTok lawyer’ because of the videos of his millionaire lifestyle, who initially represented the brothers. PC Lydia Ward is seen staggering tearfully to her feet with blood streaming down her face in bodycam footage The 5ft 2in police officer sustained a broken nose during the incident On TikTok, Yakoob uses the catchphrase ‘For every offence there is a defence’ which he demonstrated at a press conference in the immediate aftermath of the airport melee when he ludicrously said Amaaz, who was 20 at the time, was the victim of ‘an attempted assassination’ which had left him ‘fighting for his life.’ Back at the headquarters of Greater Manchester Police there must have been surprise, if not astonishment, after it became apparent that the extended family of the two young men in front of the cameras had close links with GMP. Their relatives include no less than six serving police officers and two former officers. Their uncle, now retired, spent 30 years with GMP and was a role model for his son who has followed in his footsteps, along with four cousins and the older brother of Amaad and Amaaz who joined GMP in 2020 and is a criminology graduate. All five, to be clear, are serving officers with GMP and a sixth member of the family is a detective with the Metropolitan Police. Another was a late cousin who received a police guard of honour at his funeral when he was praised as a ‘role model for young British Muslims’ by the Chief Constable of Manchester following his death in a holiday accident in 2019. Muhammad Amaad himself had applied to join GMP himself shortly before his arrest. GMP declined to reveal if he had passed the interview process. This narrative has gone largely unreported amid the furore of what happened. In Rochdale, the brothers attended Friday prayers with their taxi driver father and were involved in volunteer work for Islamic charities. George Galloway, the former MP for Rochdale, visited the family three days after they were arrested. ‘The brothers are in a bad way physically and emotionally,’ he revealed on X. Muhammad Amaad, a former KFC assistant manager, was employed by Virgin Media at the time of his arrest, as a ‘case manager handling escalated complaints’, a job which ended not long after he was charged with assault in December 2024. He does not appear to have worked since then, according to his CV on LinkedIn where there is no current entry. He has seen little of his brother over the past year. Amaaz, who was studying sport marketing and management at Manchester Metropolitan University, was remanded at HMP Liverpool, known locally as Walton jail, after he was convicted of the attacks on the female officers and holidaymaker Mr Ismaeil. CCTV footage shows the fracas at Manchester Airport, which left three officers (two of them women) injured The airport confrontation sparked a fierce debate over the use of force by the police after a one-sided clip of PC Marsden showed him stamping on Amaaz's head The most recent trial was delayed at one point because prison staff had mislaid his suit and he refused to come to court until he was ‘properly dressed.’ Many, though, might be dismayed to learn that the career of PC Zachary Marsden, who was vilified by the usual suspects on the Left, is still in limbo even though the CPS announced that he would not face any charges in December 2024 but that could change if the ongoing investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) decided to refer him back to the CPS. What might have looked ‘rather shocking in the cold light of day,’ the prosecution explained, should be ‘judged in the context of the very serious level of threat the defendants posed’ [which was not shown in the edited clip] which made PC Marsden fearful ‘that his firearm might be taken from him at the airport, with all that was capable of flowing from that.’ The prosecution rubbished the argument that the string of punches thrown by the brothers was in response to Amaaz being kicked in the face. How could it have been, the jury was asked, because the kick came afterwards and ‘cannot bear any logical justification.’ The record of PC Marsden and PC Ward was also brought up. They had faced previous allegations of improper force although those complaints had been dismissed by an internal investigation in PC Marsden’s case, and by the IOPC in PC Ward’s case. The defence, however, claimed PC Marsden’s attitude was: ‘I can do whatever the hell I like because I am a police officer with a gun.’ He did not announce himself when attempting to arrest Amaaz (after the headbutting incident) or explain why. The brothers, they said, were genuinely in fear of their lives. Akhmed Yakoob no longer acts for them. Asked why, he replied: ‘My main objective was to make the case a national issue and I managed to do that within a couple of hours,’ he told the Daily Mail shortly before the retrial ended. ‘But the media made it all about me which was unfair on the brothers,’ he added. Hardly surprising given Yakoob, who stepped down because he had become a ‘distraction’, made his name posting videos under the hashtag #lawyerlifestyle in which he posed next to a bright yellow Lamborghini wearing flashy suits, gold-rimmed glasses, Prada trainers and a glittering diamond watch. Yakoob, in his late 30s, is a director of Birmingham based Maurice Andrews Solicitors, has 220,000 followers on the social media site and his videos are watched up to two million times. In one of the most recent, he can be seen with his latest toy, a black Mercedes with a personalised number plate that can be interpreted as ‘Gaza Law.’ Yakoob has become a force in the sectarian-riven world of Birmingham politics since he first appeared alongside Muhammad Amaad and Mohammed Fahir Amaaz in the immediate aftermath of their arrests. Most recently, he played a leading role organising a slate of candidates on a pro-Palestinian platform in the local elections after standing as an independent candidate himself in Birmingham Ladywood against the now Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in the general election and coming third in the vote for the West Midlands mayor in May 2024. ‘It is not acceptable to assault police officers but I stick to my guns that whatever the brothers did, it did not warrant a kick to the face,’ Yakoob replied. There is one more thing to add about Akhmed Yakoob. In May last year, Yakoob was charged with money laundering after an investigation by the National Crime Agency. He says he is innocent and ‘denies the offences completely’. ‘They only decided to charge me once I got politically active,’ he said when we spoke to him. ‘I strongly believe that is not a coincidence.’ A trial is set for next year. It is hard to put a precise figure on the direct costs of the Manchester Airport case but at a press conference following today's hearing, Aamer Anwar, the solicitor who took over from Akhmed Yakoob, put the figure at around £2 million. So the case which began controversially has end controversially with a huge bill for the taxpayer, and a feeling, surely among many people that in this troubling case, justice has not been served. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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