About the Recipe
In 2013, three women were rescued from a house in Lambeth after spending decades held in conditions described as “domestic slavery.” The case revealed shocking levels of coercion and control hidden in plain sight, raising urgent questions about how such abuse could go unnoticed for so long.
Victims:
Aishah Wahab (Malaysian, then 69);
Josephine Herivel (Northern Irish, then 57);
Katy/Rosie Morgan-Davies, 30.
Perpetrators:
Aravindan “Comrade Bala” Balakrishnan
Chanda Pattni (his wife)
Incident details:
Decades-long coercive control within a Maoist commune
Women rescued in Oct 2013
Arrests in Nov 2013.
Outcome:
Balakrishnan later convicted (separate trial) for related offences of assault/rape/false imprisonment
Case is shorthand locally as the Lambeth “slavery” rescue.
Location/Date: Lambeth; 1980s–2013 (rescue 25 Oct; arrests 21 Nov 2013).