May 24,2018:

A mother who tricked her teenage daughter into travelling to Pakistan to marry an older man has become the first person in England to be convicted of forced marriage.

She was sentenced to fourand-a-half years in prison.

This conviction would send a strong message to families planning to coerce their daughters into marriage.

Jury at Birmingham Crown Court heard the girl was betrothed to a man 16 years her senior on a visit to Pakistan when she was 13.

The man had sex with her and the girl underwent an abortion on her return to Britain, prosecutors said.

When she protested, her mother assaulted her and threatened to burn her passport, the court heard.

Girl eventually returned to the UK with government help. UK introduced an offence of forced marriage in 2014, but prosecutions have been rare.

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