I naively assumed that those whom Gill consulted would support the idea of criminalisation. But the result was depressingly similar to other issues relating to the treatment of Muslim women and girls: many respondents argued that bringing a criminal case would make reconciliation between the victims and their families less likely.

I asked Gill what her own view was on criminalisation. "It would make sense if nothing else was working," she says, "but we have had about 300 civil protection orders issued since they were introduced, and we would never have seen 300 prosecutions." Should it really be down to the victims of crime to decide whether the perpetrators are criminalised? "Lots of girls and young women say that they do not want to get their parents into trouble," answers Gill. "Prosecutions do not allow for any reconciliation afterwards."

Heather Harvey is a feminist who campaigns against human rights abuses of women and children, and has carried out research into forced marriage for the Foreign Office's community liaison unit. She, too, believes that criminalisation is not the solution. "There are dangers in creating and focusing on specialist bits of legislation that disproportionately apply or seem to apply to particular parts of the community, particularly those already under siege," she says. "They do it because they know they can emotionally manipulate their children or because they justify it in their heads as not forced but arranged. Having a criminal offence wouldn't alter this. And it gives false hope to young women to think that by calling it a crime it would suddenly deter their parents and keep them safe."