World News - 'Slaves' held in horrific conditions

divdiv class=story-body readability=58 span class=story-date#13; span class=date22 November 2013/span#13; span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time03:36 ET/span#13; #13; /span#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; !-- Embedding the video player --#13; !-- This is the embedded player component --#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; !-- wwrights check --#13; !-- Empty country is used on test environment --#13; #13; #13; #13; div class=videoInStoryB readability=2#13; div id=emp-25042450-46643 class=emp#13; #13; #13; noscript#13; div class=warning readability=1#13; img class=holding src=http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71265000/jpg/_71265446_71265445.jpg alt=Aneeta Prem/pstrongPlease turn on JavaScript./strong Media requires JavaScript to play./p#13; /div#13; /noscript#13; #13; !-- embedding script --#13; #13; /div#13; !-- companion banner -- #13; #13; #13; #13; !-- END - companion banner --!-- caption --p class=captionAneeta Prem, Freedom Charity: We've ensured they're in a place of safety/p#13; !-- END - caption --#13; #13; #13; #13; /div#13; !-- end of the embedded player component --#13; #13; !-- Player embedded -- #13; p class=introduction id=story_continues_1Three women rescued from a house after allegedly being held as slaves for 30 years were kept in horrific conditions, a charity has said./p#13; pFreedom Charity said it had been called by a woman who said she and two others were being held in south London./p#13; pA Malaysian woman, 69, an Irish woman, 57, and a Briton, 30, were rescued on 25 October, it emerged on Thursday./p#13; pA 67-year-old man and woman, understood to be married, were arrested in Lambeth and later bailed until January./p#13; pDetective Inspector Kevin Hyland, from the Metropolitan Police's human trafficking unit, said: 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./p#13; span class=cross-head'Ordinary street'/span#13; pThe women were found following delicate phone conversations between the charity and the 57-year-old, who had secretly gained access to a phone./p#13; div class=story-feature wide readability=6#13; a class=hidden href=#story_continues_2Continue reading the main story/a h2Analysis/h2#13; !-- pullout-items--#13; #13; !-- pullout-body--#13; pWhat we are learning is just how long this police investigation may take. /p#13; pIt's already been up and running for some weeks now but the arrests made on Thursday were the first the public knew of it. /p#13; pThere are still many questions to be answered, but similar cases in the past have required a delicate handling of victims who can be extremely disorientated. /p#13; pAt the very least the three women - whom detectives are trying to gain information from - may not know the world as we know it. A safe house may feel very out of context. /p#13; pOfficers had to make sure the women were aware of their intentions. /p#13; #13; !-- pullout-links--#13; /div p id=story_continues_2She first called on 18 October and there followed a number of phone conversations over a week./p#13; pThe three women eventually left the property when the occupants of the house were not around, the charity said./p#13; pThey were met by police and representatives from the group, and were then moved to a safe location./p#13; pSpeaking to the BBC, Aneeta Prem, founder of Freedom Charity, said it was investigating how the women had remained hidden for so long. /p#13; pIn 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. /p#13; pMs Prem said of the initial contact with the Irish woman: She said she had been held against her will. /p#13; pShe 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./p#13; pIt 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./p#13; pObviously the police were involved, and they managed to walk out of the house when nobody was around./p#13; !-- Embedding the video player --#13; !-- This is the embedded player component --#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; !-- wwrights check --#13; !-- Empty country is used on test environment --#13; #13; #13; #13; div class=videoInStoryC readability=1#13; div id=emp-25041751-46644 class=emp#13; #13; #13; noscript#13; div class=warning readability=1#13; img class=holding src=http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71263000/jpg/_71263849_71263848.jpg alt=Det Insp Kevin Hyland from the Metropolitan Police Human Trafficking Unit/pstrongPlease turn on JavaScript./strong Media requires JavaScript to play./p#13; /div#13; /noscript#13; #13; !-- embedding script --#13; #13; /div#13; !-- companion banner -- #13; #13; #13; #13; !-- END - companion banner --!-- caption --p class=captionDet Insp Kevin Hyland: We have never seen anything of this magnitude/p#13; !-- END - caption --#13; #13; #13; #13; /div#13; !-- end of the embedded player component --#13; #13; !-- Player embedded -- pWe were waiting for them with the police and we managed to get them to a place of safety./p#13; pThey have absolutely nothing now and as a charity we're trying to support them./p#13; pIt 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./p#13; span class=cross-head'Some freedom'/span#13; pThe 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. /p#13; pIt is not yet known if the women are related. /p#13; p id=story_continues_3Officers 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./p#13; pDet Insp Hyland said they had never seen anything of this magnitude before./p#13; pHe added that the women had had controlled lives and spent most of their time indoors, but they had some freedom. /p#13; pPolice said the facts behind the situation were being established slowly as specialist workers were assisting the women. /p#13; pHome Office minister James Brokenshire told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: Slavery is one of those issues which people felt had been consigned to the history books. /p#13; pThe sad reality is that it is still there. We have seen increases year on year in the number of cases reported, and I expect that will continue to increase./p#13; pMr Brokenshire is taking a Slavery Bill through Parliament, which will introduce a maximum life sentence for slave-owners and create a new commissioner to tackle the problem./p#13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center