'So old he was losing his hair': survivors urge MPs to end scandal of UK's child brides

A new bill could close loophole allowing under-18s to marry in England and Wales, as charities warn Covid has exacerbated hidden child marriage

When Payzee Mahmod was married at 16 to a man nearly twice her age she didn't understand the words spoken during the Islamic ceremony - and nobody thought to translate them for her.

The teenager, who loved fashion and pop music, was preparing to start college. I had just finished school and the idea of not wearing a uniform was exciting to me," she remembers. Instead I found myself trussed up in a wedding dress, with elaborate jewellery, feeling like a sale item at an auction."