hree women rescued from a house after allegedly being held as slaves for 30 years were kept in "horrific conditions", a charity has said.

Freedom Charity said it had been called by a woman who said she and two others were being held in south London.

A Malaysian woman, 69, an Irish woman, 57, and a Briton, 30, were rescued on 25 October, it emerged on Thursday.

A 67-year-old man and woman, understood to be married, were arrested in Lambeth and later bailed until January.

Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland, from the Metropolitan Police'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."

The women were found following delicate phone conversations between the charity and the 57-year-old, who had secretly gained access to a phone.

'Ordinary street'
She first called on October 18 and there followed a number of phone conversations over a week.

The three women eventually left the property when the occupants of the house were not around, the charity said.

They were met by police and representatives from the group, and were then moved to a safe location.

Speaking to the BBC, Aneeta Prem, founder of Freedom Charity, said it was investigating how the women had remained hidden for so long.

"In a very busy capital city we often don't know our neighbours. We're looking at people who were kept against their will in an ordinary residential street in central London," she said.

'Incredibly emotional'
Ms Prem said of the initial contact with the Irish woman: "She said she had been held against her will.

"She was able to use a phone but that was done in a very secret way, the people in the house didn't know she had it.

"It was a process of just over a week where there was lots of phone calls and they gained the trust of the charity, and by doing that they felt confident to reveal enough information, and obviously the police were involved, and they managed to walk out of the house when nobody was around.

"We were waiting for them with the police and we managed to get them to a place of safety.

"They have absolutely nothing now and as a charity we're trying to support them.

"It was a very emotional time. When we got the message they were outside the front door, the whole call centre erupted in cheers and there were tears, and everyone was incredibly emotional to know we had helped to rescue three ladies who had been held in such horrific conditions."

'Some freedom'
The 30-year-old had spent her whole life in captivity, police believe, and officers are trying to establish whether she was born in the house.

It is not yet known if the women are related.

Officers said the arrested couple were not British nationals and it was "very unlikely" that the alleged victims were related to them because of their nationalities.

Det Insp Hyland said they had "never seen anything of this magnitude before".

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

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

 Steve steveson wrote:
It is just shocking that this can happen still today. There seems to be 2-3 of these a year but this is the worst (longest) I can remember.

 Orlanth wrote:
Victims have been interviewed but seldom do the police do anything.

 Steve steveson wrote:
Psychology. The same thing that keeps people from leaving abusive relationships. The same thing that keeps kids from reporting abuse. The same thing that kept Jimmy Savile safe for 40-50 years. Control and fear.

It took a week for them to trust the charity, who they phoned, to get there trust enough just to get basic information.

In all those cases people often fight back to start with but pretty soon they loose the will and start to loose trust in anyone. They stop trusting everyone and start to live in that world. They probably were held captive to start with, but over the course of years the captors just gain such control that they don't need to lock them in. The captives don't do anything through fear. Fear of what will happen, fear that they will not be believed "Who is going to listen to you. Your only a kid/your not supposed to be in this country/your useless/your *whatever weakness they think they have* and I'm rich/famous/powerful/respected etc. You will have nowhere to go and then I will kill you/beat you/you will be humiliated and reviled by the public for saying anything" etc.

Its a difficult and complex area. My sister is a social worker so I have heard about a few cases of domestic abuse where it happens and they have all sorts of trouble helping people as they often fear the consequences of getting help. Both children and adults. They are eaten up with "Will they believe me" and think it is normal. People in those situations often end up thinking they are worthless and diverse what is happening to them.

 Orlanth wrote:
Certainly not diplomatic status in this case, you can't charge a diplomat, the most you can do is expel them and demand their government censure them.

Anyway this issue is the tip of an iceberg:

http://www.antislavery.org/english/press_and_news/news_and_press_releases_2009/hidden_in_plain_sight.aspx

Nice to see the current government is making the right noises, though I think it is due to revelations of abduction of adult UK ctiizens by gypsies for use as slaves, imported domestic servants might get support as a side issue, might not.