£113,000 taxpayer-funded legal aid handed to brothers who brawled with police at Manchester Airport

By RIVCHARD MATSDEN and DOMINIK LEMANSKI and JAMES TOZER, NORTHERN CORRESPONDENT Published: 22:00, 2 August 2026 | Updated: 22:00, 2 August 2026 Two brothers filmed brawling with police at Manchester Airport were handed over £113,000 in taxpayer-funded legal aid, it has emerged. Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, from Rochdale, was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court last year of assaulting PC Lydia Ward, PC Ellie Cook and a Starbucks customer at the airport in July 2024. In June, he was jailed for three and a half years. But he and his brother Muhammad Amaad, 26, were cleared of causing GBH against another officer, PC Zachary Marsden, after juries in two trials failed to reach verdicts and the prosecution declined to press for a second retrial. PC Marsden had been filmed kicking Amaaz in the face, he said to defend his female colleagues. Footage of the frenzied assault shocked the public with Amaaz jailed for three and a half years in May after being convicted at the first trial of assaults on two female police officers in the incident. Amaad was acquitted. Now new figures released to the Daily Mail in a Freedom of Information request show Amaaz received a total of £78,420.42 made up of £59,200.70 in barristers' fees and £19,219.72 in solicitors' bills. Meanwhile, Amaad received £34,694.56 made up of £16,450.94 in barristers' costs and £18.243.62 for his solicitors. In addition, the cost of prosecuting the pair is estimated to come in at close to £2 million. Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, who was jailed for three-and-a-half years at Liverpool Crown Court News of the publicly funded payments come just weeks after the Daily Mail revealed the extraordinary behind-the-scenes efforts of the brothers' publicly funded legal teams to get the case thrown out. At both trials, Amaaz was represented by Imran Khan KC. Softly spoken and impeccably polite throughout the trial, the acclaimed human rights lawyer is best known as solicitor for murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence's family. Elder brother Muhammad Amaad – who rained punches on PC Marsden shortly before the kick – was represented by Chloe Gardner, a barrister at Michael Mansfield KC's chambers. Over the course of two trials and multiple legal hearings, lawyers for the brothers repeatedly tried to derail the case against them. Details of the extraordinary behind-the-scenes efforts of the brothers' legal teams could finally be reported after a possible third trial was abandoned in May. Issues argued over in court in the absence of the jury included allegations of 'bias' following a bizarre incident in which a member of court staff allegedly told the senior detective on the case that Amaaz should have been kicked 'harder'. There was also a desperate effort by the defence to suppress the damning clip of the unprovoked headbutt which sparked the whole melee on the grounds the CCTV had no audio. The defence also attempted to bring up previous allegations of improper force against two of the police officers viciously assaulted by the brothers. CCTV shows Amaaz swinging a punch at Manchester Airport - hitting PC Lydia Ward in the nose Meanwhile, the judge was accused of sexism for criticising a female barrister's 'emotive submissions', with the defence later trying – and failing – to have him removed from the retrial. One of the strangest episodes of the original 2025 trial involved the court clerk's alleged quip about PC Zachary Marsden kicking younger brother Mohammed Fahir Amaaz in the face. In a comment to senior investigating officer Detective Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes, the official was said to have laughingly told him: 'PC Marsden should have kicked Amaaz harder in the head.' Ahead of the 2026 retrial, lawyers for Amaaz argued that by passing the remark onto a fellow officer, DCI Hughes demonstrated Greater Manchester Police had a 'toxic' environment and an 'ingrained culture of hostility'. They sought to have the retrial held at a different court – a bid rejected by a senior judge who said there was no evidence of 'bias'. He did however rule that a new clerk and usher should be appointed. An attempt to persuade Judge Neil Flewitt to 'recuse' himself from the retrial on grounds which included alleged 'intimidation' of female barristers also failed. The defence also unsuccessfully tried to cast aspersions on two of the officers who found themselves on the receiving end of a string of vicious blows. That was despite neither PC Marsden - who was punched six times by Amaad – nor PC Ward – shown in graphic detail sobbing in horror after a raging Amaaz broke her nose – previously facing disciplinary action. Judge Flewitt ruled that the jury should not be told about previous allegations of improper force stemming from arrests involving the PCs, pointing out that the complaints were rejected at the time.