The Irish woman who is alleged to have spent 30 years enslaved in London is from Northern Ireland, but has spent time in the Republic, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed.
The 57-year-old was named by ITV News last night, which said she was filmed in a 1997 documentary it produced after a member of a Maoist commune fell to her death from a house in south London.
However, no independent corroboration of the identity of the woman – who left a house in Brixton a month ago along with a 69-year-old Malaysian and 30-year-old Briton – is possible for now.
Concern over speculation
The Freedom Charity, which received the first call for help from the Irish woman, said it was "very concerned" about the speculation surrounding the identities of the three. "The women have asked to be left alone and given time to think. Of primary concern to us is their safety and wellbeing," said its founder, Aneeta Prem.
“The more information there is that comes into the public domain, the more it will hamper their recovery. I would ask you to respect the need for the three women’s privacy at this critical time, as they start the healing process.”
A former neighbour of the women told of how one of them stood at a window for hours on end holding up handwritten notes, “but I could never read what they were saying”.
The three lived in Peckford Place, Brixton, with an Indian man, Aravindan Balakrishnan (73), and his wife Chanda (67), who ran a Maoist sect in the area during the 1970s. Last Thursday, the couple were questioned in connection with allegations of false imprisonment, servitude and assault, but have been bailed until January.
The three women, said the former neighbour, Charlotte Watts, were regularly seen at a local launderette: “They were different; they appeared quite vulnerable and they didn’t have any social skills. They used to walk in a line and they never made any eye contact. Everybody used to know about them and talk about them, and we always thought it was a halfway house for abused women.”
So far, it is understood that the Department of Foreign Affairs has had no approaches from anyone claiming to be a relative of the Irish woman.
Meanwhile, the 30-year-old woman is said to be the daughter of a former commune member, Sian Davies, killed in a fall from a window in one of the sect's houses in 1997.
Mr Balakrishan was filmed attending her inquest. However, it has not been explained why social services would not have placed her child with blood relatives, or in care.
