Exclusive interview: I can heal Malaysian 'slave', says sister

Kamar Mautum, a retired teacher, tells The Telegraph's Dean Nelson she believes her 69-year-old sister, Aishah, is one of the women who has allegedly been held captive by the leaders of a 1970s Communist collective for 30 years 2:06PM GMT 26 Nov 2013

Speaking from her home near Kuala Lumpur, Ms Mautum said her sister Aishah and her fiancé, Omar Munir, moved to Britain in 1968 hoping to pursue studies and have a family.

But they arrived in London at a time of increasing social unrest with growing protests about the war in Vietnam and both were soon attracted to an organisation called the Malaysian and Singaporean Students Forum (Mass), which had a reputation as one of the more extremist Maoist groups operating in London.

She fell under the spell of Aravindan Balakrishnan and his partner Chanda, who were last week arrested on suspicion of holding three women against their will for more than three decades in south London.

A still from an ITV documentary shows Aravindan Balakrishnan being followed by two women (ITV NEWS)

Ms Mautum said her family did not approve of what she was doing and her sister did not want to have any contact with them.

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"She was such a young girl. She thought she was not being loved enough," she said.

The interview came as footage unearthed by ITV News appeared to show her sister during the time it is alleged she was held captive.

Aishah and Josephine, another member of the alleged 'slavery' commune in south London, who were rescued last week, are believed to be among the same women filmed by an ITV documentary crew in 1997.

A Malaysian woman, seen closing the door at the end of the clip, is believed to be Aishah, the 69-year-old woman rescued from the alleged 'slavery' house in south London.

The documentary was about the death of Sian Davies, who died after a fall from the window of a house used by the group.

Also featured in the film was the alleged ringleader of the group, Comrada Bala, whose real name is Aravindan Balakrishnan, the man arrested as part of the current investigation.

He is seen wearing a brown jacket and blue trousers as he attends the inquest into the death of commune member Sian Davies in 1997.

This footage is the only known video of him.

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Irish 'slave' revealed as daughter of Bletchley Park code breaking hero

Josephine Herivel speaking to ITV News in 1997 Photo: ITV NEWS By Martin Evans, and Claire Duffin and Ben Riley-Smith

10:30PM GMT 26 Nov 2013

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An Irish woman allegedly held as a slave by a Maoist sect in south London is the daughter of one of the Bletchley Park code breakers who helped ensure the Allied victory in the Second World War, the Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Josephine Herivel, 59, is the daughter of mathematician, John Herivel, who was a key figure in the team who cracked the German Enigma ciphers in 1940.

Brought up with her two sisters, Mary and Susan in Belfast, Northern Ireland, she joined Aruvindan Balakrishnan’s extremist collective in the 1970s after moving to London to study, turning her back on her family.

When her father died in 2011 obituaries only made mention of his two other daughters, who now live in London and last night refused to comment on the development.

John Herivel at a Bletchley Park reunion in 2010 (HEATHCLIFF O'MALLEY FOR THE TELEGRAPH)

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A friend of the family said they had tried to make contact with Miss Herivel for years, but without success.

She was educated at the prestigious Belfast Methodist College, and was a talented musician before moving to London, where she became involved in the far left.

One of the core figures in Mr Balakrishnan’s tight-knit circle of loyalists, Miss Herivel was prosecuted in 1978 after police raided the group’s south London bookshop and headquarters.

Appearing in court alongside five fellow cult members, she displayed the extent to which she had fallen under the spell of its charismatic leader, by refusing to recognise the court and denouncing the judge as a “Fascist lackey”.

Aruvindan Balakrishnan with who is believed to be Josephine behind him in 1997 (ITV NEWS)

Miss Herivel was also with the sect when one of its members, Sian Davies, 44, died in mysterious circumstances in 1997.

Miss Davies died in hospital, seven months after falling from a bathroom window at a house in south London where Mr Balakrishnan, his wife Chanda and supporters were living.

At the subsequent inquest the coroner criticised the other women living there after learning that they had failed to inform Miss Davies’ family of the accident, telling them instead she was on holiday in India.

When journalists later approached Miss Herivel at the house to inquire what had happened she accused them of being parts of the “Fascist state” and remaining fiercely loyal to her leader, refused to discuss Miss Davies’ death or the arrangements inside the sect.

Mr Herivel, was recruited to Bletchley Park from Cambridge University in 1940, and after being trained by Alan Turing worked in the now legendary Hut 6.

Mr Herivel invented an ingenious method to crack codes which became known as the Herivel Tip or herivelismus

He was responsible for coming up with an ingenious method to crack codes which became known as the Herivel Tip or herivelismus.

Assuming that the German code operators of his own age might take shortcuts through official procedures to make their lives easier, Mr Herivel came up with a system that allowed the codebreakers to crack the crucial Red cipher.

After the war he worked as a teacher, but eventually returned to his native Northern Ireland, with wife Elizabeth, who also worked at Bletchley Park.

It was in Belfast where his three daughters were brought up and where he took up a post at the city’s Queen’s University.

All three daughters excelled at school and Susan went on to become a respected artist, while Mary works in the property industry.

But Josephine’s obsession with left wing politics meant she rejected her upbringing in favour of joining Mr Balakrishnan’s cult like organisation, The Workers’ Institute of Marxism Leninism Mao Zedong Thought.

It is thought Miss Herivel lived with the group for more than 30-years before last month contacting the Freedom Charity and reporting that she and two other women were being held against their will.

All three were eventually freed from the flat in Brixton south London where she had been living for the past five years and taken into the care of the police and specially trained charity workers.

Initially at the women’s request the police did not take any action against the couple alleged to have held them against their will.

But last week Mr Balakrishnan and his wife Chanda were arrested on suspicion of slavery related offences. They have been bailed to a date in January.

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Maoist 'slave' thought to be the daughter of a member who died in mysterious circumstances

Sian Davies, left, is thought to be the mother of 'slave' Rosie Davies, also known as Prem Maopimduzi Davies Photo: ITV NEWS By Martin Evans, and Claire Duffin and Ben Riley-Smith

10:30PM GMT 26 Nov 2013

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The 30-year-old woman who has spent her entire life as part of a Maoist cult in south London is the daughter of a sect member who died after falling out of a window, it can be revealed.

The girl, who police described as having virtually no normal contact with the outside world, is understood to be the daughter of Sian Davies, who was killed in mysterious circumstances in 1997.

Despite telling neighbours her name was Rosie Davies, it can now be revealed that she was named Prem Maopimduzi Davies, which translates as revolution in Swahili.

Her mother, who was originally from Wales, became one of the most ardent members of Aruvindan Balakrishnan’s Maoist sect and was arrested numerous times for her political activities.

Aruvindan Balakrishnan (ITV NEWS)

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Having moved to London in the early 1970s to study, she and her boyfriend were recruited to the Workers Institute of Marxism Leninism Mao Zedong Thought.

Eventually her boyfriend’s family became so concerned for his welfare that they virtually kidnapped him for his own safety, according to relatives of Miss Davies.

It is not clear whether he was the father of Miss Davies’ daughter, but when she died in 1997, the collective effectively adopted her daughter who was 14 at the time.

Miss Davies died seven months after falling out of a bathroom window at a house in Shakespeare Road in Herne Hill.

Last night Miss Davies’ cousin Eleri Morgan said she and her brother would be willing to take a DNA test to prove that Rosie or Prem as she was known by her mother, is their relative.

The property in Herne Hill where Sian Davies fell out of a bathroom window, dying seven months later from her injuries (JACK TAYLOR/NATIONAL PICTURES)

Miss Morgan, a retired teacher who lives in south London, told ITV news: “From looking at the papers today and looking at photos I have of Sian when she was younger, no one can dispute there is a likeness there.”

She added: “We’d always wondered if Sian had any children and I know her mother was always wondering if she had grandchildren.

“So it’s such a shame, if this turns out to be Sian’s daughter, that they didn’t have the compassion to let her know. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Miss Morgan added: “When Sian was lying in King’s hospital for seven months, I believe they did know where I lived, which was down the road from King’s. I could have seen her. Her mother could have had the chance to have said her goodbyes to her. That is unforgivable.”

She went on: “I have no problem about meeting her at all because she could be part of the family. I’d be very happy to do that and so would my brother, be very happy to see her.”

“Hopefully some of the women in the house may well have been the ones who were there when Sian was with them all those years ago.

“I certainly feel there is far more information that needs to be found about her death.”

 CrimeNews »UK News »Martin Evans »

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Police: 'Slave' Case Victim Was Beaten

Aneeta Prem’s Freedom Charity was contacted by one of the three women who were allegedly held as slaves for 30 years. She says now more women are contacting the charity.

Video: More Calls To Charity Over Slavery

Enlarge Tweet Email Police say at least one of the three women allegedly held in a London home as slaves for 30 years was beaten while in captivity.

Officers arrested two people after three women aged between 30 and 69 were rescued from a house in Lambeth, south London, following a probe sparked by a Sky News report.

And detectives say the pair, a man and a woman both aged 67, are also being questioned on immigration charges. They said they were not looking for any more suspects or victims.

Scotland Yard also said the two accused were previously arrested in the 1970s, but did not reveal the nature of those arrests.

Police, who have bailed the pair until January pending further enquiries, said they expected the investigation to take a "considerable" amount of time.

The three alleged victims are a 69-year-old Malaysian woman, a 57-year-old Irish woman and a 30-year-old Briton - who police say may have been held captive for her entire life.

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