Lambeth slavery case

Lambeth slavery case
LocationLambeth, South London, England
Date1980s – 21 November 2013
Attack type
Slavery, domestic servitude
Victims
  • Aishah Wahab[1]
  • Josephine Herivel[2]
  • Rosie Morgan-Davies[1]

On 21 November 2013, Metropolitan Police from the Human Trafficking Unit arrested two suspects at a residential address in Lambeth, South London. A 73-year-old ethnic Indian Singaporean man, Aravindan Balakrishnan, and a 67-year-old Tanzanian[3] woman, his wife, Chanda Pattni, had been investigated for slavery and domestic servitude.[4][5] The case centred around the Workers' Institute of Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought commune which was led by Balakrishnan. In the early 1980s after a police raid, Balakrishnan decided to move the group's activities underground. Balakrishnan's control over his followers intensified and the commune became a prison to his followers. On 25 October 2013, three women were rescued from the commune‍—‍these were a 69-year-old Malaysian woman (later revealed to be Aishah Wahab),[1] a 57-year-old Northern Irish woman (Josephine Herivel) and a 30-year-old London woman (Katy Morgan-Davies).[5] Morgan-Davies was born into the sect and had not experienced the outside world until her release.

  1. ^ a b c Patrick Sawer, et al "How Chairman Mao of Brixton built his sect of 'slaves’", telegraph.co.uk, 2013
  2. ^ Martin Evans, et al "Irish 'slave' revealed as daughter of Bletchley Park code breaking hero ", telegraph.co.uk, 26 November 2013
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference growing up was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Halliday was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b "Women victims 'held for 30 years'". London Evening Standard. 21 November 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013.