3 woman kept hostage for 30 years

[ivykaty44]

one being the whole of her life as she is 30 - how did this person not ever go to school? This is shocking

[SatinSandals]

I hope that the couple are forced to pay them all the back wages they owe + compensation.

[PigletJohn]

should they be found guilty, I would have no objection to a 30-year prison sentence x 3, as well as the compensation.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

How could they pay them though if they are in prison?

[howrudeforme]

Read in one paper that the police think the couple may be part of a bigger criminal group. This will therefore take a long time.

Shocking. This still goes on and it happens everywhere.

[SatinSandals]

How could they pay them though if they are in prison?

Seize their assets. They have stolen all that time and not paid, they owe it.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

I agree they owe it, definitely. What if there is no money or assets?

[SatinSandals]

I bet they own the house. In fact I would hazard a guess that they are well off in general if they take advantage of people like that.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

Yes they probably do own the house if theyve managed to keep it for 30 years and keep 3 women hidden in it.

[lljkk]

The women weren't shackled or restrained, they were kept there with threats & mind games & violence, but nothing to stop them walking out the door except their own fears.

I am not sure there's a law to cover this.

You all are going to hate me, but I don't think they'll be charged with anything. Deported, obviously.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

Really lljk? That would be quite awful. However isnt there a law about using violence or threat of violence to keep someone against their will? I would be really shocked if there were no charges at all.

[lljkk]

I guess we need a lawyer to clarify. May be a devil of a law to apply if it does exist.

I don't want them to get away with this, but the lack of charges is making me think they might. :( They'll never get away with it truly; they will be named & vilified the world over.

I guess we need to know more facts. Was the mother very vulnerable in some way ?LDs? Else how did she allow her child to grow up in that environment? Did the situation start out as innocent and slowly evolve into a horror?

[NotALondoner]

I don't think the three women are related, lljkk

[PacificDogwood]

There are laws against slavery. And holding against ones free will.

I think there is a much wider fact finding and evidence gathering process going on just now.

[SatinSandals]

Of course they can be charged- these women were working for free for 30 years and have no pension scheme, national insurance etc and on top of that were abused and psychologically brain washed! They will not walk free. Apart from anything else it would open the door to vulnerable people being exploited and you can say it was OK because they were not physically locked up!

[lljkk]

The Times article today says that it was a religious cult situation, or more akin to that anyway than slavery.

I don't know what law applies in this situation and how it would be framed so as still to allow people to be life long carers, or willingingly volunteer their lives away for a church, for instance (like nuns).

[BlueStones]

Llikk, the news I have seen refers to the women being physically abused. This if nothing else should ensure a prosecution.

[BlueStones]

Apropos of earlier discussion on this thread, this new article says that the 30 year old has a birth certificate -

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/23/london-slaves-political-collective-captor-police

[Mellowandfruitful]

Since slavery is illegal in this country, if the women testify that they were they had to work with no pay, then causing that is the crime thy will be charge with, surely? Plus if they were kept there with violence, that would be assault.

[Mellowandfruitful]

That Guardian article linked about by BlueStones is very interesting. As well as mentioning the birth certificate it says

"Metropolitan police commander Steve Rodhouse told reporters that two of the alleged victims met the male suspect in London through a shared political ideology and began living together in a "collective".

It also says the police suspect the women were 'emotionally and physically abused'. So there will be grounds for charges.

[PacificDogwood]

I wonder what a 'political collective' exactly is?

There is clearly so much more to this than meets the eye at the moment.

[wetaugust]

I think it's going to be very difficult to get a prosecution. It appears from the Guardian article that the 'arrangement' started as a 'collective' with both parties having s shared political belief.

At what stage does a willing collective become illegal 'slavery'?

Physical abuse should be prosecutable but it's their word against their alledged abusers. Who's to be believed ina she said he said situation unless there is actual evidenece of physical abuse.

This much talked of 'emotional handcuffs' is an interesting concept. As far as I know there's no law against emotional abuse. If they try to go down that route then the Moonies, Children of God and other cults could find themselves subject to the same. I think the law assumes that you are free to absent yourself from emotional abuse unless there is corecion. But coercion is usually a defence rather than an offence.

A very peculiar case but not 'slavery' as I recognise it and the media seem to be shying away from describing it as such now.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

"At what stage does a willing collective become 'illegal' slavery"

When one (or more) parties stop being willing and the other doesnt allow that person to leave.

[claig]

The Mail says it is some kind of left wing commune

"The woman was allegedly held captive by a cult-like Left-wing commune along with two older women was seen as ‘spooky’ by neighbours but did have some limited contact with the outside world."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2512718/Pictured-British-slave-woman-30-sent-scented-love-letters-photographs-neighbour.html

[ariadneoliver]

More details on claig's link here www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10471517/Slavery-case-two-arrested-ran-a-revolutionary-Communist-collective.html

[telsa]

Some weird Maoist cult harking back to 70s. I am not sure the language of slavery is being very helpful here. Newspapers are just hyping people up like they did with the kidnapped blonde child story. I expect the facts will be grim and awful, but somewhat more banal than the lurid stuff that sells papers.