Martha Gray, instructed by Dawson Cornwell, acted for the Applicant Mother in MA v FA & Ors (Findings of Fact: Rape, Stranding, and Abuse) [2026] EWHC 1514 (Fam); a highly unusual private law children case involving transnational marriage stranding, domestic abuse and covert surveillance. Martha was led by Ruth Kirby KC of 4PB.
This case concerned allegations that a father, assisted by family associates, deliberately stranded the mother in Pakistan and prevented her return to England following the breakdown of their marriage. The mother, who had entered an arranged marriage and moved to England on a spousal visa, alleged domestic abuse, coercive control, rape, covert surveillance and a coordinated plan to leave her separated from the parties’ young daughter.
Following a lengthy fact-finding hearing, the court found that the father had subjected the mother to controlling and coercive behaviour, deliberately inflicted burn injuries upon her, covertly installed a hidden camera in the marital bedroom and secretly recorded intimate activity. The court further found that the father, together with two associates, orchestrated the theft of the mother’s travel documents in Pakistan and subsequently took steps to ensure her visa was cancelled, preventing her return to the UK. The court concluded that this amounted to transnational marriage abandonment or “stranding”, causing significant harm to the mother-child relationship.
