British tourist, 18, faces 20 years in prison in Dubai for affair with 17-year-old British girl he met on holiday – after her ‘furious mother reported him to police’

An 18-year-old Briton faces 20 years in prison in Dubai after being accused of having sex with a then 17-year-old during a family holiday.

Marcus Fakana, from Tottenham, London, was held in a notorious UAE prison for days after police heard about his holiday romance from her ‘strict’ mother.

The couple had ‘a great time together’ during a holiday in August and hoped to continue their relationship when back in London.

But when the girl’s furious mother told Dubai police about the relationship when they returned to Britain, Marcus has now spent 20 years in a grueling Dubai prison.

‘When she left, I couldn’t wait to see her again when I got home. Then suddenly the police knocked on the door of our hotel,” Marcus told the British aid organization Detained in Dubai.

‘They said they were taking me for questioning, but wouldn’t tell me why. I couldn’t imagine what for. I was scared and my parents were terrified.”

Dubai only recently reformed its laws on sex outside marriage for tourists, but maintains a strict Islamic legal system and has no hard ruling on the age of consent.

According to local law, a child is defined as a person under the age of 18. The relationship is said to be legal in Great Britain and the girl has now turned 18.

Marcus had been on holiday with his parents on August 26 when he had a holiday romance with a girl just months after turning 18.

‘We had a great time together. “We really loved each other, but she was secretive with her family because they were strict,” he said.

‘My parents knew about our relationship, but she couldn’t tell hers. She had to meet me without telling me it was a boy.”

The couple tried to spend as much time together abroad as possible, and hoped to get to know each other better when they returned to London.

She left Dubai first and they agreed to meet.

But Marcus was ‘scared’ when police suddenly showed up at the hotel and detained him for three days at the ‘notorious’ Al Barsha police station.

“He was told that his girlfriend’s mother had reported the relationship to authorities in Dubai after she arrived back in London,” said Radha Stirling, CEO of Trapped in Dubai and human rights lawyer.

The organization provides confidential legal assistance to people facing civil and criminal legal issues in the UAE.

Marcus discovered she had looked at her daughter’s phone and found their chats and photos, sharing them with Dubai police from the safety of Britain.

“This is clearly a very strict mother to involve the police in a private matter that is perfectly legal in the country where she lives and where the children grew up,” Ms Stirling warned.

“Perhaps she was unaware that she was fueling the possibility that a young man as young as 18 would spend the next 20 years in prison.”

The family, meanwhile, are still stuck in Dubai and are spending £2,000 a month in the hope of winning Marcus’ future back.

‘My mother is a cleaning lady and my father works in a warehouse. They have been saving for this once-in-a-lifetime holiday and have now used up all their savings,” Marcus explains.

“The police demanded AED 10,000 as bail, which I was told is not normal and costs are mounting. I’m all alone here. I pray that this nightmare will be over and that I will be home for Christmas.”

Marcus seeks help because he is threatened with the possibility of twenty years in prison in Dubai

Marcus and his family are now appealing to the British Foreign Secretary to help him.

“Dubai police have the power to drop the case against Marcus and allow him to come home,” Stirling said.

“This is not something we want to do to young people and we ask Mr Lammy MP to convey this message to his colleagues in the UAE.”

The UAE only recently introduced changes allowing tourists to have sex outside of marriage, as well as looser rules on alcohol and vaping.

That was a British couple imprisoned for kissing in public in 2010, and eventually deported for violating the country’s decency laws.

Despite changes in the law, Stirling warns that parents will soon be ‘afraid to take their older teenagers on holiday, where they could end up losing their lives for behavior that is completely legal in their own country’.