"3 women free in UK after decades as domestic slaves; 2 people charged on suspicion of forced labor" by Cassandra Vinograd | Associated Press, November 22, 2013
LONDON — Three women have been freed after spending 30 years held captive in a south London home, including one woman believed to have spent her entire life in domestic slavery, police said Thursday.
London’s Metropolitan Police spoke about the rescues after a man and a woman, both 67, were arrested Thursday on suspicion of forced labor and domestic servitude.
The arrests came as part of a slavery investigation launched after one of the women contacted a charity in October to say she was being held against her will along with two others. The charity contacted police.
Those freed on Oct. 25 are a 69-year-old Malaysian woman, a 57-year-old Irish woman, and a 30-year-old British woman, police said.
Kevin Hyland, head of the Metropolitan Police’s human trafficking unit, said the women are ‘‘highly traumatized’’ having had ‘‘no real exposure to the outside world’’ for 30 years....
Police initially said they did not believe any of the victims were related. Later, however, they appeared to backtrack, saying the relationship between the three women is part of the investigation.
Officials also said there is no evidence to suggest anything of a sexual nature — but cautioned that the investigation is still not finished....
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Related: Indian Diplomat Sexually Abused by AmeriKan Security Services
"Police say 30-year captives brainwashed; Women called charity for help; couple arrested" by Karla Adam | Washington Post, November 23, 2013
LONDON — Three women held against their will in a south London house for more than 30 years had been brainwashed, restrained less by force than by ‘‘invisible handcuffs,’’ British police said Friday.
The case has been described in the media as Britain’s worst case of ‘‘modern-day slavery’’ and likened to that of Ariel Castro, the man who kidnapped and tormented three women for years in Cleveland.
But there was sexual abuse and rape there.
Related: Castro Commits Suicide
Also see: Cleveland kidnapper’s death ruled a suicide
He might have been killed by the cops but who cares, right?
A 69-year-old Malaysian woman, 57-year-old Irish woman, and 30-year-old British woman were rescued from a house in Lambeth, a borough in south London, last month after reaching out to a charity.
Details of the case emerged Thursday when a man and a woman, both 67, were arrested on suspicion of forced labor, domestic servitude, and immigration offenses. They were released on bail early Friday after surrendering their passports.
Police told reporters Friday that the suspects, who are not British, had been arrested before, in the 1970s, but did not give further details.
So what foreign country are they from?
Although the conditions of the women’s captivity remain vague, police have said they believe they were beaten, but not sexually abused.
Commander Steve Rodhouse of London’s Metropolitan Police said that to outsiders, the five may even have appeared to be ‘‘a normal family,’’ and that police were trying to understand ‘‘the invisible handcuffs that were used to exert such a degree of control’’ over the women.
‘‘What we have uncovered so far is a complicated and disturbing picture of emotional control over many years, brainwashing would be the most simplest term, yet that belittles the years of emotional abuse these victims have had to endure,’’ Rodhouse said in a statement.
Like a newspaper.
Police said that they did not believe the women were trafficked or that there were other victims....
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"Suspected UK slavery case rooted in politics, police say" by Gregory Katz | Associated Press, November 24, 2013
LONDON — New details emerged Saturday in the bizarre case of three suspected female slaves allegedly held for 30 years, with police indicating the unusual household arrangement started as a collective of people with shared political beliefs.
While much of the case is still a mystery, British police said the two suspects — a man and a woman from India and Tanzania — bonded with two of the reported victims because of commonly held political views and lived with them in a communal situation, apparently in the Brixton area of south London.
‘‘We believe that two of the victims met the male suspect in London through a shared political ideology, and that they lived together at an address that you could effectively call a ‘collective,’ ’’ said Metropolitan Police Commander Steve Rodhouse.
The collective eventually broke up, but the two women stayed on, for reasons the police say they do not yet fully comprehend. The third woman is a 30-year-old, who apparently spent most of her life under the control of the two suspects with only closely managed contact with the outside world.
‘‘Somehow that collective came to an end and the women ended up continuing to live with the suspects,’’ Rodhouse said. ‘‘How this resulted in the women living in this way for over 30 years is what [we] are seeking to establish, but we believe emotional and physical abuse has been a feature of all the victims’ lives.’’
The disclosure Thursday that a 69-year-old Malaysian, a 57-year-old Irish woman, and a 30-year-old Briton were freed after three decades prompted questions about how such a tragedy escaped notice for so long. Many puzzles still remained Saturday.
Rodhouse refused to provide any details about the communal living situation or the political beliefs that united the group. It is not clear if they were bound by common religious views, a commitment to political or social change, or other factors.
Police have said the three victims were subjected to repeated beatings and kept in place by ‘‘invisible handcuffs’’ rather than physical constraints. They have indicated sexual abuse was not involved.
New information was also revealed Saturday about the two suspects, who have been freed on bail until a court hearing in January. Rodhouse said they came to Britain in the 1960s. The suspects, who have not been named or charged with any crime, are a male and female couple, both aged 67.
Rodhouse said a birth certificate for the 30-year-old alleged victim has been located but that no other official documentation about her life has been found. Authorities have not indicated if she was allowed to attend school or whether she is related to either the suspects or either of the other two victims.
Police have said the three women may have been brainwashed.
Ian Haworth, who founded Britain’s Cult Information Centre, said he suspects the communal situation involved a cult of some type in which the victims were subjected to mind control techniques.
‘‘Everything I’ve heard suggests it could well be a cult,’’ he said. ‘‘The use of the term ‘invisible handcuffs’ emphasized it. It’s a great description of mind control, thought reform, and psychological coercion.’’
You know, the type of things the CIA does!
He said the victims, who apparently were not confined to the apartment and were sometimes allowed out in chaperoned situations, may have been programmed to think of the apartment as the only safe place on Earth. ‘‘You appear to be free to come and go but you’re not,’’ he said. ‘‘In a cult, you are programmed to think that everyone outside the group is against you.”
He said is it not necessary for cult members to live together but that doing so gives the leader even more control.
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Is there more to the story than this because it disappeared down the memory hole.
