Photograph by Fernando de Sousa
The 67-year-old couple who are suspected of keeping three women as “slaves” in their Lambeth home were arrested in the 1970s say police.
Investigators have not revealed why the couple were previously arrested, but the three woman, a 69-year-old Malaysian, a 57-year-old Irish national and a 30-year-old Briton, are believed to have been kept in the house for 30 years until escaping last month. The women are not thought to have been sexually abused or victims of trafficking, although police have said that the women had been beaten.
The couple, who are understood to be married, are under investigation for suspected immigration offences and face allegations of slavery, were bailed yesterday
Discussing the arrests, Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland, from the Met’s Human Trafficking Unit, said:
“This is the very early stages of a complicated and sensitive investigation. These women are highly traumatised, having been held in servitude for at least 30 years with no real exposure to the outside world, and, trying to find out exactly what has happened over three decades will understandably take some time.”
Explaining how the captivity of these women went unnoticed for so long, Specialist Crime and Operations Commander Steve Rodhouse said:
“We believe at this stage to the outside world this may have appeared to be a ‘normal’ family. This does mean that over the course of many decades the people at the heart of this investigation and their victims will probably have come into contact with public services, including our own, that is something we must examine fully, and it is too early to provide details.”
House search
The case has been described as “unique” by the force and its entire 37-person specialist team is working on it.
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Mr Rodhouse said the two suspects had been bailed as the investigation would be a long one, but said they had not returned to the Lambeth property.
The house has been subjected to a 12-hour search, with 55 bags of about 2,500 exhibits seized.
The rescue was staged after the 57-year-old woman secretly gained access to a phone and contacted Freedom Charity.
She first called on 18 October and there followed a number of conversations over a week, before the women left the property when the occupants of the house were not around.
They were met by police and representatives of the charity and moved to a safe location.
It is not yet known if the women are related but police believe the 30-year-old has spent her whole life in captivity. Officers are trying to establish whether she was born in the property.