British Overseas Territories could be forced to recognise gay marriages, following landmark ruling billed as a “victory for equality”.

Chantelle Day, 32, and her fiancee Vickie Bodden Bush, 44, have been in a relationship since 2012. However the couple, who are parents to a young daughter, were denied the right to marry because they lived in the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory (BOT). The Carribean islands had refused to recognise overseas marriages or civil unions between same-sex couples.

However following multiple legal battles, the couple yesterday won a landmark case after a judge ruled that the Cayman Islands Constitution requires that same sex couples have the right to marry - and for their marriage to be legally recognised. The case is being hailed as a major victory for equal rights “with a healthy dose of common sense”.

As a result of the ruling, the Marriage Law in the Cayman Islands was yesterday modified with immediate effect. The case marked the following the first court ruling of its kind and legal experts said the judgement into “sharp focus” the lack of same-sex marriage in both Northern Ireland and the only other four BOTs which lack civil partnership too, which are also Caribbean.