The two brothers embroiled in a brawl with police officers at Manchester Airport were handed £113,000 in taxpayer-funded legal aid.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 21, from Rochdale, and his older brother Muhammad Amaad, 26, received the publicly funded payments across two trials at Liverpool Crown Court stemming from the incident in July 2024.
Footage of the chaotic brawl shocked the nation when it emerged and the subsequent prosecution is estimated to have cost close to £2million.
The financial details were obtained through a Freedom of Information request by the Daily Mail.
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Amaaz was found guilty at the first trial of assaulting PC Lydia Ward, PC Ellie Cook, and a customer at a Starbucks outlet inside the airport.
He was jailed for three-and-a-half years in May, while his elder brother Amaad was acquitted of those charges.
However, both siblings had also faced a more serious charge of causing grievous bodily harm to PC Zachary Marsden — the officer captured on camera kicking Amaaz in the face, an action he said was taken to protect his female colleagues.
Juries at two separate trials were unable to agree on a verdict regarding the GBH allegation and prosecutors ultimately chose not to pursue a second retrial, while a possible third trial was abandoned in May.
According to the figures, Amaaz was granted a total of £78,420.42 in legal aid, comprising £59,200.70 for barristers’ fees and £19,219.72 covering solicitors’ costs.
Amaad’s legal aid came to £34,694.56, split between £16,450.94 in barristers’ fees and £18,243.62 for solicitors’ work.
The renowned human rights lawyer Imran Khan KC, who is perhaps most widely recognised for representing the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, acted for Amaaz at both trials.
Amaad, who was shown on footage striking PC Marsden six times shortly before the officer’s kick, was represented by Chloe Gardner, a barrister from the chambers of Michael Mansfield KC.
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Neither PC Marsden nor PC Ward — who was filmed sobbing in distress after Amaaz broke her nose — have faced disciplinary proceedings in connection with the incident.
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