Parents jailed for false imprisonment of their own daughter

The victim was struck and bitten by her mother and sister as her father drove them from Bournemouth to the family home in London.

She made attempts to fight for her freedom in the backseat of the car, even kicking out at her father in an attempt to force them off the motorway.

Once they made it back to the home in south east London, the victim was forced to wear make-up to cover up some her injuries while she was on video calls with work colleagues.

However, this failed to prevent suspicions from her concerned friends. Police were called and they arrived at the family home in the early hours of May 27 last year.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard part of the parents’ issue with their daughter evolved around the discovery that she was seeing a black Muslim man.

The father, a 59-year-old of Kurdish descent, initially pleaded not guilty to false imprisonment but changed his plea earlier this year over the incident which took place in May last year.

While the mother, a Turkish 46-year-old Muslim, pleaded guilty to the offence last summer.

Judge Stephen Climie sentenced the father to four years’ imprisonment and the mother to two years’ imprisonment at a court hearing on Tuesday, May 3.

At an earlier hearing the victim had asked the judge to consider not putting her parents behind bars.

However, Judge Climie said it was his public duty to mark the seriousness of the offences with immediate terms of imprisonment.

The judge said the victim was an “extraordinary young woman” who had shown insight into the “failings” and “inabilities” of others, not least herself and her parents.

He added: “We, as a society, are fortunately living in a multi-cultural society within which freedom of expression, life and behaviour are cherished.”

Judge Climie said by the date of the incident on May 26 last year, the victim, who was living in Bournemouth, had shown she did not agree with many of her parents views on life, with her wanting to “follow her own path”.

The court heard the two defendants had no previous convictions.

Nick Robinson, representing the mother, said: “This criminal behaviour was in essence rooted in a lack of understanding and respect, not an absence of love.

“But actions matter and the behaviour that day by this woman hasn’t only caused her to lose her liberty but it has caused wounds, emotional, psychological and physical wounds, to someone she deeply loves.”

At the earlier hearing, the judge gave the mother permission to directly apologise to her daughter from the dock.

Mitigating for the father, Tom Evans said it was an “unpleasant case” which had “absolutely ruined” his client’s life through the “catastrophic decision” that he made.

Judge Climie issued a restraining order preventing the defendants from contacting their daughter, directly or indirectly for 10 years.