Forced Labour, Enslavement

"We've established that all three women were held in this situation for at least 30 years. Their lives were greatly controlled and for much of it they would be kept in the premises."
Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland, London Metropolitan Police

"I think it's a real rarity, I certainly haven't heard of anything like this before. I've heard of stories abroad, but not in the centre of London. It was a life of domestic servitude. They were there and they weren't able to leave. They would obviously make calls when they could. It was a prearranged time when they thought they could make calls. It took time to build up trust.
"The Irish woman gave very little away. She was just scared. They were not sure if they would get found out making the calls. It was quite secretive and obviously when the people were not there to overhear. They could put themselves in danger. We tried to reassure them, to let them know we could get them out."
Aneet Prem, British anti-slavery charity Freedom Charity

"People need to understand that these aren't one-off cases -- modern slavery is alive and well in Britain and needs to be stopped.
"We need police forces to be working much more closely with local non-government organizations, such as Freedom Charity, to help raise awareness and spot the signs of this evil."
Frank Field, Labour MP, vice-chairman of Human Trafficking Foundation

Britain is looking at placing into law a modern slavery bill. It's very difficult for anyone living a normal life in a civilized country to believe that anywhere in the world, including where they might happen to live, someone might be a prisoner, forced to perform menial tasks and given no freedom or sovereign rights as an individual, fearful and incapable of breaking away from their miserable situation.

Hard to believe the three women discovered to have been living in an ordinary house on an ordinary street in London, but who were constrained from ever leaving the confines of that house, to the extent that none of the neighbours had any idea they even inhabited the house, would represent modern-day slaves. But that they most certainly were. One, aged 69,  another 57, and the youngest at 30, was said to have been born in the house and never once exited it.

They were so traumatized, so demoralized, so downtrodden and fearfully intimidated that they had no idea their rights were being trampled upon until one of them had seen a television program highlighting the work of Freedom Charity in freeing victims of abuse like forced marriages. Which finally inspired the 57-year-old to exhibit the courage of hope over fear in contacting the charity that the television program had highlighted.

After having made contact, she even then had to be assured and reassured that she was doing the right thing, and that she and the two other women would be rescued. The house in Lambeth, South London, had represented, for three decades, the extent of their world experience. There, they were under the captive orders of a man and a woman both 67, who were placed under arrest.

The 69-year-old is a Malaysian, the 57-year-old Irish, and little has been explained of the 30-year old other than never having been allowed to exit the house, she also was never given the opportunity to have a normal childhood, never attended school, knew nothing of the outside world. What a monumental adjustment these three woman will now be exposed to.

"They felt they were in massive danger. They were living lives of domestic servitude. They did have rooms that they could use but they were really restricted about what they could do and could never leave the front door", explained Aneet Prem. The woman were "absolutely terrified" of the two whom they thought of as the "heads of the family".

"They are very distressed about what's happened but they're making steady progress. I've spent a great deal of time with them and think they're making as much progress as we can expect them to. It's been very difficult for them.They threw their arms around me and thanked me for work we have done ... it was a very, very emotional time", said Ms. Prem.

The two non-British citizens who were arrested by Scotland Yard on suspicion of operating a slavery operation have been released on bail.