Three "highly traumatised" women have been
rescued from a house in south London where they appear to have been held
captive for three decades, Scotland Yard has said.
A 69-year-old Malaysian woman, a
57-year-old Irish woman and a 30-year-old British woman were all rescued from
the residential address on Thursday morning by detectives from the Metropolitan
police Human Trafficking Unit.
Two
suspects – a 67-year-old man and a 67-year-old woman – were arrested at the
address under the investigation into slavery and domestic servitude, the force said
in a statement.
Scotland Yard said: "Police were
contacted in October by Freedom Charity after they had received a call from a
woman stating she had been held against her will in a house in London for more
than 30 years.
"Further inquiries by police
revealed the location of the house and with the help of sensitive negotiations
conducted by the charity the three women, a 69-year-old Malaysian woman, a
57-year-old Irish woman and a 30-year-old British woman were all rescued.
"All three women, who were
highly traumatised, were taken to a place of safety where they remain."
Aneeta Prem, founder of the Freedom
Charity, said the three women were in effect kept in "domestic
slavery" and felt they were not allowed to leave the house because of
their fear of the two people arrested.
"One of they key things that has
come up is that these three ladies were absolutely terrified by these
people," she told Sky News, saying the two suspects appeared to have acted
as "the heads of the family".
Those rescued were suspected to have
faced physical as well as mental abuse, Prem added, but there did not appear to
be a sexual element to the slavery.
The address where they were found was
"just an ordinary house in an ordinary street", she said, adding that
neighbours did not appear to have known anything.
The three presumed victims had access
to their own rooms but were "very restricted on everything they could
do", Prem said.
The women were all together in
"a place of safety" and were doing well, she added.
Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland,
from the Met police's Human Trafficking Unit, said: "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. We have launched an
extensive investigation to establish the facts surrounding these very serious
allegations."
He added: "A television
documentary on forced marriages relating to the work of the Freedom Charity was
the catalyst that prompted one of the victims to call for help and led to their
rescue."
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