The government has said it is “disappointed” that the Cayman Islands has rejected gay marriage following a landmark legal ruling.

The Carribean islands had refused to recognise overseas marriages or civil unions between same-sex couples. However last month The Telegraph reported that British Overseas Territories (BOT’s) could be forced to recognise gay marriages following multiple legal battles by one couple which resulted in a landmark ruling.

Chantelle Day, 32, and her fiancee Vickie Bodden Bush, 44, have been in a relationship since 2012. 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 but last month they finally won their case which was hailed as a “victory for equality”.

However it has since emerged that same-sex couples will now ahve to wait a few months longer to discover if they still have the right to marry after the case was sent to the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal agreed on Wednesday afternoon to delay implementation of last month’s historic judgment legalising same-sex marriage.