Women 'held as slaves for 30 years'
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25040741

hree women have been "rescued" from a south London house as police investigate claims they were held as slaves for 30 years.

Police arrested a 67-year-old man and a 67-year-old woman in Lambeth.

Last month officers were contacted by Freedom Charity after it received a call from a woman saying she had been held against her will for decades.

A Malaysian woman, 69, an Irish woman, 57, and a British woman, 30, were all rescued from the house.

The women, who are said to be "highly traumatised", are now in safe accommodation.

Police said they were not related to each other and the 30-year-old had spent her whole life in servitude.

Det Insp Kevin Hyland, from the Metropolitan Police's Human Trafficking Unit, said: "We have seen some cases when people have been held for ten years, but we have never seen anything of this magnitude before."

He added that the women had controlled lives and spent most of it indoors, but they had some freedom.

Police said the facts behind the situation were being slowly established as specialist workers were assisting the women.

'Absolutely terrified'
"We applaud the actions of Freedom Charity and are working in partnership to support these victims who appear to have been held for over 30 years," Mr Hyland said.

"We have launched an extensive investigation to establish the facts surrounding these very serious allegations.

"A television documentary on forced marriages relating to the work of Freedom Charity was the catalyst that prompted one of the victims to call for help and led to their rescue."

Aneeta Prem, founder of Freedom Charity, told Sky News the alleged victims were able to walk out of the house after receiving help from the charity.

She said: "We started in-depth to talks to them when they could. It had to be pre-arranged. They gave us set times when they were able to speak to us.

"It was planned that they would be able to walk out of the property. The police were on standby."

The two people who were arrested were considered the "heads of the family", Ms Prem said, adding that the rescued women felt they were in "massive danger" and were "absolutely terrified".

hree women have always been slaves.

were they in some cage or what?

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