West Midlands Police records about ten cases weekly and counted 239 crimes related to forced Muslim marriages between 2022 and 2025
Official statistics also show that the problem encompasses a broader set of offenses. In England and Wales, 2,949 offenses related to honor-based abuses were recorded during the year ending in March 2025, including 125 forced marriage offenses.
The West Midlands police alerted about the persistence of so-called family “honor” based abuses among illegal Islamic immigrants, a category that includes violence, threats, intimidation, and coercion exercised to protect or defend the supposed honor of a family or community. Among the behaviors investigated are forced marriages, physical assaults, kidnappings, threats, and in the most severe cases, homicides.
West Midlands Police reported that they handle approximately ten cases of this type each week. Figures obtained by ITV News show that between 2022 and 2025, 239 forced marriage offenses were recorded in the region: 65 in 2022, 69 in 2023, 50 in 2024, and 55 in 2025.
The low number of accusations is related, according to the police, to the difficulties victims face in reporting their own relatives. Investigators point out that some individuals fear the consequences within their Islamic families and communities or do not want to provoke the criminal prosecution of their loved ones.
Nationally, forced marriage has been a specific offense in England and Wales since 2014. According to data cited by West Midlands Police, only seven people have been convicted across the UK for forced marriage offenses since then, two of them in cases originating from Birmingham.
In this context, West Midlands Police conducted a prevention operation at Birmingham Airport during the summer. Officers spoke with passengers considered potentially vulnerable and identified 15 minors under 18 who may be at risk of forced marriage.
The majority of the trips considered at risk were destined for Pakistan, although movements to Islamic countries in Africa, Bangladesh, and the Middle East were also identified.
The police note that the months of July and August require special attention due to the school holiday period, when the likelihood of minors being taken abroad to enter into marriages against their will increases. Authorities seek to combine criminal investigations with prevention and protection measures to detect cases before victims leave the UK.
