Enfield Council failed to prevent girl's forced marriage

A string of failures by Enfield Council and a school meant a teenage girl was able to be forced to marry a man who assaulted her, a judge has found.

The girl, now 15, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was married to a man 10 years her senior after travelling out of the UK in June 2020.

Barnet County Court heard the girl was beaten and allegedly raped by the man.

Judge Oliver Jones found Enfield Council and social services missed several chances to protect the girl.

A spokesperson for the council said it accepted the judge's findings and recognised the council "should have dealt with this case far better".

The court heard the girl's parents had tried to force her to marry another man in 2019 when she was 13 years old. The engagement was later called off.

At the time teachers and social workers had raised concerns that the girl, who spoke limited English after coming to the UK in 2014, was at risk of a forced marriage.

A video appearing to show the girl's engagement was posted on social media, the court heard.

Despite the concerns, Enfield Council decided to take no further action.

A few months later the girl was taken out of the country by her mother, where she was married to a man in his late 20s.

Following the marriage, the man repeatedly punched the teenager in the face and hit her with a belt.

A charge of rape was not able to be substantiated, in part due to "the deep flaws in the way the evidence was obtained".

The girl eventually confided in her social worker in November 2020 about the marriage.

Within a few weeks, a forced marriage protection order was made and the girl was placed in foster care.

An interview conducted by the police officer and the social worker "was not even close to being appropriately conducted in accordance with best practice", Mr Jones found.

As a result, evidence was missed or so compromised it could not be relied on in court.

Mr Jones said "poor communication" between social services and the school led to missed opportunities to protect the girl.

Enfield Council must "look most carefully at its actions and inactions in this case and what it can do to avoid any similar repetition in the future", the judge said.

The council spokesperson said there had been "a comprehensive review" of the way it deals with forced marriage, and it has "introduced a number of measures designed to ensure that all potential victims of forced marriage are protected from harm and dealt with compassionately and effectively in the future".