A couple who threatened their daughter with death unless she agreed to marry her own cousin in Bangladesh have been jailed.

The daughter, who was 18 when she had to be rescued from a remote village, described her parents as ‘monsters’ in an impact statement read in court.

Armed police swooped in to rescue the girl from the forced marriage in a dramatic British High Commission operation.

The couple were jailed for a combined eight years at Leeds Crown Court (Picture: PA)

None of those involved in the court case can be named.


The man was jailed for four and a half years at Leeds Crown Court while his wife was sentenced to three and a half years behind bars.

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Their daughter, who is now 20 and lives in Leeds, has had to assume a new identity and now lives in fear and hiding from her family and community.



She said: ‘I know I will always have to remain cautious but, knowing those monsters are going to be in prison, I feel the uttermost freedom in my heart.’

She went on: ‘I want other girls to know that forcing someone to marry is wrong.

‘I want to be able to give a message to my siblings and other people who find themselves in this situation that life does go on.

‘I want my elders to know that it is illegal and you can’t treat family like this.

The young woman was rescued after her British boyfriend alerted authorities (Picture: Getty)

‘I want to be able to hold my head high knowing that I stood up for what is right.

‘I want to be able to live knowing that I will not be a victim for my parents’ honour and reputation.

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‘I will not live in shame. I am now free.’

The court heard that the parents made extensive plans for the woman to marry her cousin – luring her to Bangladesh under the pretence of a holiday.

When she was told of the plans and reacted angrily against it, her father hit her with her mother’s encouragement, the court heard.

He then threatened to ‘chop her up in 18 seconds’ if she continued to oppose the plans.

However, she managed to alert the police through her British boyfriend.

In her statement, the woman said she has had no contact with her family except for one call with her mother.

She said: ‘She proved to me during that call that she had no intention of ever loving me or being sorry for what they had done. My thought was ‘you’re evil’.’

Throughout her childhood and adolescence, the British-born woman lived a Westernised lifestyle and hoped to go to university.

Dafydd Enoch QC, defending her father, told the court that the man’s actions were ‘not in evil but in generations of accepted behaviour’.

During their sentencing, the wife shook her head as the judge ordered that more than £8,000 found on the couple when they were arrested should be given to their daughter.

He told the pair he believed the cash would have been used for the abandoned wedding.

They were found guilty earlier this year of forced marriage and a count of using violence, threats or coercion to force their daughter into marriage, following a three-week trial.

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