An armed police officer repeatedly punched in the head as he tried to arrest a suspect at Manchester Airport has told a jury he was in ‘constant fear’ that his Glock pistol would be taken.

But PC Zachary Marsden told today how he opted to use his 50,000 volt Taser to incapacitate his attacker rather than draw his firearm, saying: ‘I joined this job to protect life not take it away.’

Giving evidence in the retrial of two brothers accused of assaulting him in an incident captured on CCTV, the 26-year-old added: ‘I’ll exhaust every other option possible before producing a lethal weapon.’

The violence broke out when PC Marsden and two female officers attempted to detain Mohammed Fahir Amaaz at a car park pay station in July 2024.

Amaaz had been identified as having headbutted a passenger at a Starbucks café within the arrivals area of Terminal Two just minutes before, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

During the resulting confrontation, Amaaz punched and elbowed PC Ellie Cook, who was also armed, and PC Lydia Ward, who was unarmed, breaking her nose, before grappling with PC Marsden.

Meanwhile older brother Muhammad Amaad ‘grabbed’ PC Marsden from behind and delivered ‘repeated’ blows to his head.

Footage of the violence shows how PC Marsden later kicked a prone Amaaz and made a stamping motion toward his head.

PCs Ellie Cook and Lydia Ward had been trying to help armed colleague PC Zachary Marsden (in glasses) arrest Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (right) when his brother Muhammad Amaad (left) approached from behind

As PC Marsden attempted to gain control of Amaaz in order to arrest him, he said he felt an ‘immense pressure’ from behind – coming from his brother Amaad (pictured right grappling with the armed officer in CCTV footage)

Giving evidence today, PC Marsden said his intention had been to grab Amaaz by the arm then lead him out of the pay area – which was a black spot for his police-issue radio – before explaining why he was being arrested. 

He said the fact he had been told that Amaaz had just headbutted a holidaymaker, plus the lethal semi-automatic pistol in his holster, informed his decision to effect a ‘speedy’ arrest.

Additionally he was conscious that the pay station area was crowded with ‘innocent members of the public’ who could ‘come to harm’ if Amaaz became ‘hostile’.

PC Marsden said he could not risk waiting until Amaaz entered the car park before arresting him in case he used a car ‘as a weapon to harm us’.

But he said that when he took hold of the suspect’s left arm, with his female colleagues approaching from the right, Amaaz immediately ‘tensed’ his arm and began to ‘clench his hand into a fist’.

He was ‘resisting my efforts’, PC Marsden said, leading him to believe that Amaaz was ‘about to become violent’.

At this stage none of the trio had identified themselves as a police officer, he added, saying this gave them ‘an element of surprise’.

Amaaz turned and ‘looked me up and down’, PC Marsden said, at which point he would have realised he was a police officer.

Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21 (left), and 26-year-old Muhammad Amaad pictured last year 

Amaad grabbed hold of PC Marsden’s body armour and forced him towards a seating area where he punched him in the head, the court heard

Asked by prosecutor Paul Greaney KC what happened then, he replied: ‘He resisted more.’

As they grappled, PC Marsden said he was ‘apprehended from behind by an unknown person who took hold of me’.

He felt an ‘immense pressure’ coming from a man he later learnt was Amaaz’s older brother, who was ‘much taller than me’, he added.

The officer said he felt his holstered pistol being ‘pushed’ while he was ‘cornered’ against the pay machine, leading him to believe his assailant was ‘trying to take my firearm from me’.

PC Marsden tried striking Amaad with his elbow but it had ‘absolutely no effect’, he said.

At that, the older brother ‘grabbed hold of me’.

He fell backwards onto a metal bench from where he could feel Amaad ‘punching me in the head as he towered over me’, he told jurors.

‘They were the hardest I’d ever been punched in my entire life, especially my career.’

Along with his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, is accused of assaulting PC Marsden causing him actual bodily harm

PC Marsden – who is short-sighted – said his glasses were ‘punched off almost immediately’, meaning he couldn’t see anything beyond arm’s length.

‘I can’t see without them,’ he said.

To demonstrate, PC Marsden removed his glasses and looked towards Mr Greaney, who was standing less than 4m away from the witness box, saying he could only make out a ‘vague’ shape.

‘How did you feel?’ the prosecutor asked.

‘Terrified,’ PC Marsden answered.

‘I couldn’t stop it, I couldn’t stop my colleagues coming to harm, I didn’t know what was going to happen to me.

‘I couldn’t fight off this male due to his size.

‘I had a constant fear that my weapon was going to be taken off me.’

PC Marsden said he considered drawing his pistol to defend himself, but instead of using lethal force chose to use his 50,000 volt Taser.

When the punches finally stopped he fired its barbs at Amaad’s chest.

But it did not incapacitate him as the cartridge was not designed for use at such short range.

However as he was about to fire again he was punched from behind by Amaaz – who had by now overpowered both the two female officers – and fell to the floor. 

Amaaz, now 21, and Amaad, 26, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny assaulting PC Marsden causing him actual bodily harm.

Amaaz claims that he was acting in self defence when he struck PC Marsden, while Amaad claims he was acting in defence of his brother.

The jury have been told that Amaaz was convicted last year of assaulting holidaymaker Abdulkareem Ismaeil in the Starbucks cafe and also assaulting PC Cook and PC Ward, who suffered a broken nose.

The trial continues.