Manchester Airport attacker's brother sacked from GMP for racist remark

PC Mohammed Abid, brother of the man jailed for assaulting two female officers at Manchester Airport, has been dismissed from Greater Manchester Police for gross misconduct.

Officer who defended convicted Airport attacker dismissed over racist remark

PC Mohammed Abid, a Greater Manchester Police officer who provided character evidence for his brother during two assault trials, has been sacked for gross misconduct after directing a racist comment at a female colleague, the Daily Express reports.

A GMP disciplinary panel ruled that Abid described the braided hair of a fellow officer — referred to throughout the hearing only as PC Y, a woman of African heritage — as "looking like a mop", before smiling and walking away. The panel found the remark constituted a racist comment relating to a protected characteristic.

Abid and five serving colleagues, all stationed at GMP's Bury division, were dismissed without notice following a two-week disciplinary hearing. Two additional former officers who had already left the force before the hearing were also found guilty of gross misconduct and told they would have been dismissed had they still been serving.

Brother convicted of assaulting two officers at Manchester Airport

Abid's brother, Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison earlier this year after being convicted of repeatedly punching PCs Lydia Ward and Ellie Cook. Officers had been dispatched to arrest Amaaz for headbutting a man inside Terminal 2 on 23 July 2024.

During two trials, Abid — then still a PC but suspended from duty — appeared in court and gave a glowing account of his brother's character. "Fahir is the youngest of six siblings in our close-knit, family-oriented household," he told the jury. "From a very young age, Fahir has been known for his respectful, gentle, and soft-spoken nature. He has always looked up to me as a role model and often comes to me for advice and guidance in various aspects of his life."

A year of mockery at Bury police station

According to the disciplinary panel's findings, the misconduct directed at PC Y extended well beyond a single remark. Born in Africa but fluent in English, she was subjected to sustained mockery of her accent by multiple colleagues over the course of approximately a year. The panel's chair, Assistant Chief Officer Jonathan Roy, concluded there was a "culture of mocking accents" within the unit at Bury police station — one so entrenched, he noted, that "new members of the team were infected with it within weeks of joining the team."

PC Y gave evidence via video link. Asked how the mimicking affected her, she said: "It was quite upsetting. It made me uncomfortable, nervous, quite anxious as well. I may have laughed — I tend to laugh when I am feeling those things. It was upsetting, I did not like it, definitely. As things got worse, I tended to be quiet about it. It was definitely uncomfortable." She said the mockery occurred every day: "They would copy whatever I said then they would laugh about it."

The panel determined she was a "clear victim of bullying" whose accent and even her laugh were regularly imitated or ridiculed.

Abid denied the allegations and counter-claimed victimhood

Abid, a former criminology student at Manchester Metropolitan University, flatly denied describing PC Y's hair as resembling a mop and insisted she was fabricating the allegations. He counter-claimed that he, rather than the female officer, was the true victim of racism.

He told the hearing: "I have got a wife, I have got sisters, I have got a mother. Since young I have been brought up to respect my elders, especially females. It would be massively frowned upon in my culture and not something I would do. I can't explain, or give reasons, why she has alleged what she has alleged. I can only give my evidence. My evidence is that unfortunately, she's not telling the truth."

The panel rejected his denials outright. Assistant Chief Officer Roy stated that the accusation against Abid rested solely on PC Y's testimony, but that the panel could "rely on the evidence" she provided, partly because of its broader findings regarding the other officers. "The panel found no reason not to disbelieve PC Y's account of the conversations with PC Abid," Roy said. "The panel therefore found as fact that PC Abid made the comment that PC Y's hair looked like a mop."

Eight officers found guilty of gross misconduct

The panel determined that the conduct of PC Abid, PC Demi Green, PC Heena Rani, PC Lucy Granby, PC Matthew Barlow, PC Matthew Hill, former PC Jake Holt and a former Officer A — granted anonymity — constituted gross misconduct.

Former PC Jake Holt, PC Matthew Barlow, PC Matthew Hill and PC Demi Green were all found to have been involved in mimicking PC Y's accent. Former Officer A was said to have joined in, though was "less involved than the others". PC Granby and PC Rani acknowledged their language had been inappropriate and later apologised to PC Y, despite allegations they had continued to imitate and ridicule her accent.

The six serving officers were dismissed without notice. The two former officers were informed they would have been sacked had they not already left GMP prior to the hearing.

Source: Daily Express