In summer 2000, Shamsa was in the UK on holiday with her extended family residing at their Longcross estate near Chobham in Surrey. In an attempt to seek a better future for herself and escape restrictions on her life in Dubai, she used the opportunity to flee from her family in mid July. After her escape she stayed with friends for a few weeks in a London flat before being found by her family. In August 2000, Shamsa was forcefully picked up from the streets of Cambridge while walking out of a bar and taken back to Dubai on a private jet. In March 2001, after having been contacted by a British solicitor who had spoken to Shamsa, Cambridgeshire police began investigating the incident. During inquiries, people close to Shamsa in the UK substantiated her story of escape, and the matter was raised in Parliament; the police investigation stalled, however, due to denial of access to her by Dubai authorities and non-cooperation of the Longcross estate staff. According to the Foreign Office, Sheikh Mohammed himself tried to intervene with the British government over the police investigation. Shamsa has not been seen in public, after her disappearance.
2018 revival of investigation
In March 2018, Shamsa's sister Latifa also attempted to escape and was also forcefully recaptured and brought back to Dubai. Her video-statement corroborating story of Shamsa's attempted escape, her own abuse and their imprisonment in a family-owned compound brought the almost two decades old incident back into media focus. Appeals by various human rights groups and campaigners seeking release of the two sisters made a United Nations special rapporteur to seek official response from the UAE as well. A few months later in 2019, Princess Haya had to leave Dubai with her children reportedly due to feeling threatened after inquiring about the sisters on her own. In December 2018, the police investigation on Shamsa's disappearance was reopened after testimony of Shamsa's cousin Marcus Essabri living in the UK, and their mutual correspondence before her disappearance made her wishes for freedom apparent.
2019 Court proceedings
In December 2019, a UK family court ruled that—on the balance of probabilities—Sheikh Mohammed orchestrated the abductions of Sheikha Latifa and Sheikha Shamsa and subjected Princess Haya to a campaign of "intimidation"; the findings were published in March 2020. Police have subsequently said that the lapsed investigation into Shamsa's disappearance is to be reviewed.
