Find My iphone app saves woman from forced marriage

A TEENAGER used Apple’s Find My iphone app to help rescue her from a forced marriage in Bangladesh.

A court heard that the 19-year-old’s parents tricked her into leaving their home in Leeds as part of a plot to force her to marry her cousin.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said they expected her to bear him a child so he could obtain a British visa.

British authorities rescued her after she contacted her secret boyfriend in the UK via the app before the wedding took place. Leeds Crown Court heard the app indicated her whereabouts, and the boyfriend contacted the police, who told the British High Commission in Bangladesh, the Forced Marriage Unit, and Bangladeshi police.

The court heard her father threatened to slit her throat and “chop her up” if she refused to marry. The parents were arrested upon their return to Britain and her siblings were taken into care. The parents, who cannot be named, were found guilty of forced marriage and coercion offences. They will be sentenced in June.