PENNINE Police officer Bev Taylor and link worker Mussurut Zia are getting ready to travel to Pakistan to investigate forced marriages.

They will complete a two-week trip in September which has been part funded by the Lancashire Partnership Against Crime travelling fellowship award.

Forced marriages, of both Asian women and men, are illegal in Britain but it remains a controversial practice in some British Asian communities.

Mussurut said: "Forced marriage causes all sorts of problems not only for the victims but for us as a police service too.

"It can result in young women going missing, domestic violence and in extreme cases even murder.

"Forced marriage is a very real and threatening issue and something we as a police force, cannot and will not turn a blind eye to."

PC Taylor said: "The The Home Office has dealt with 200 cases of forced marriage over the past 18 months but they believe it is just the top of the iceberg. Many more cases probably go unreported.

"The purpose of our visit is to examine the true extent of the problem, to locate victims and ask them to share their experiences and to liaise with voluntary women's groups to see what services are in place to support victims."

In Pakistan the two will get an accurate picture of the extent of the problem by talking to the authorities and those affected by forced marriages.

Once they return they are hoping to use the information the find to help local victims and advise police colleagues.