The husband, in his 50s, and wife, in her 40s, pleaded guilty to carrying out conduct for the purpose of causing a child under 18 to enter into a marriage. They were each sentenced to two months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work. The couple cannot be named for legal reasons.
The court heard they were unaware of a change in the law that made it a criminal offence to cause a child under 18 to enter a marriage, even without coercion. An investigation found that the couple travelled to Pakistan with their sons in April 2023, seeking someone for them to marry. They initially denied seeking marriages and claimed they were on a family holiday.
Yes brother, my sons don't want to mess around.
However, messages and photographs on their phones made their intentions clear. On 13 February, two months before travelling, the father sent a message saying he was looking for a 'rishta' (marriage proposal) for both sons. According to BBC News, the father described his sons as not wanting to 'mess around' and not being 'stuck in the Western world'.
The court heard that on 29 April, the mother sent a message saying one son 'doesn't like the girl' and was advised to ask him again. According to BBC News, the mother said she had already asked 'five or six times'. She was told if he still did not agree, they could do an engagement rather than a Nikkah.
I have already asked five or six times.
The woman was then married to the other brother in a Nikkah ceremony. It was initially planned that she would move to the UK, but while the couple remain married, the wife currently lives in Pakistan. A Nikkah must be done in registered premises to be a legal marriage for UK purposes, but it is binding under Islamic and Pakistani law.
The bride is said to have been 18 at the time. The couple were arrested in June 2023 after concerns were raised to police by a place of education. Judge James Sampson accepted there was 'no evidence of threats, violence or coercion'.
There was no evidence of threats, violence or coercion.
He said the parents had no previous convictions and acted on 'misguided cultural beliefs, rather than malice'. ' The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 came into force on 27 February 2023, raising the minimum marriage age to 18 in England and Wales. The Act removed the previous position allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to marry with parental consent.
The law covers religious or traditional ceremonies not legally binding in England and Wales, even if taken overseas. The new UK law carries a maximum prison sentence of up to 7 years. The government's Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) provided support and advice to 302 cases in 2022.
The parents acted on misguided cultural beliefs, rather than malice.
Almost one third of FMU cases in 2022 affected victims aged 17 or under. The FMU gave advice to 337 cases in 2021, and provided advice or support in 118 cases involving victims under 18 that year. The West Midlands has the country's highest percentage of FMU cases after London, with 17%.
Karma Nirvana's national honour-based abuse helpline was contacted 9,616 times in 2022-23. Campaigners say the true number of forced marriage cases in the UK is under-reported. In other cases, a woman was held at gunpoint and forced to marry her cousin at 16, according to survivor Fozia Rashid.
Balancing these considerations in my view, including the public abhorrence to this practice, there has to be a custodial sentence.
Rubie Marie, another survivor, was forced to marry at 15 and raped every day. A mother from Birmingham is on trial for forcing her 17-year-old daughter to marry a 33-year-old man in Pakistan. The prosecution said the daughter was first betrothed at age 13 in 2012 and had sexual intercourse with the man then.
She became pregnant at 13 and had an abortion. Birmingham children's services investigated but accepted the mother's account and closed the case. The daughter was vulnerable, with special educational needs, and later suffered sexual exploitation and rape.
Yes brother, my sons don't want to mess around. Not stuck in the Western world.
In August 2016, the mother took the daughter to Pakistan, restricted her movements, and forced the marriage. Internationally, Pakistan's Punjab provincial assembly passed a law banning marriage under 18 for both boys and girls. The Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2026 introduces tougher penalties, including prison and fines.
Under the Punjab law, an adult marrying a child faces 2-3 years imprisonment and fines up to Rs500,000. The law criminalizes child trafficking for marriage and moving children outside Punjab to evade restrictions. Sindh province set the minimum marriage age at 18 in 2013, while other provinces retain 16 for girls.
The UN aims to stamp out child marriage by 2030. Sarah Dines, Minister for Safeguarding, called forced marriage an abuse of human rights denying children freedom to learn, grow and thrive.