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| Forced marriage jail first as Cardiff man sentenced | Forced marriage jail first as Cardiff man sentenced |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A 34-year-old Cardiff man has become the first person in the UK to be prosecuted under forced marriage laws introduced a year ago. | |
| The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was jailed for 16 years after admitting making a 25-year-old woman marry him under duress last year. | |
| He also pleaded guilty to charges of rape, bigamy and voyeurism at Merthyr Crown Court. | He also pleaded guilty to charges of rape, bigamy and voyeurism at Merthyr Crown Court. |
| The court heard he threatened to kill her father unless she married him. | |
| He was sentenced to four years for the forced marriage, 12 months for bigamy and 12 months for voyeurism to run concurrently with the 16-year rape sentence. | |
| The court heard he became obsessed with the woman and threatened to reveal videos he had secretly filmed of her in the shower and kill members of her family if she told anyone. | |
| Analysis by Yasminra Khan | |
| Last year the Forced Marriages Unit (FMU), run jointly by the Home Office and the Foreign Office, gave advice and support in 1,267 cases of possible forced marriages. So why are there so few prosecutions? | |
| Many say the problem lies in deep-rooted cultural traditions and that young people are reluctant to come forward to the authorities. | |
| The code of family honour and shame can run very deep in families with strong roots on the Indian Subcontinent. | |
| Some parents claim to believe they are doing the best for their child in arranging their marriage and that they are helping them to secure a good future. | |
| Why so few forced marriage prosecutions? |