"There lives were greatly controlled": Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland. Credit:AFP "It was a life of domestic servitude," explained Aneeta Prem, founder of the Freedom charity, which eventually secured the women's release from the house in Lambeth, south London. "They were there and they weren't able to leave. They felt they were in massive danger. They were restricted in everything they could do." Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland, of the Metropolitan Police's human trafficking unit, said: "Their lives were greatly controlled. For much of it, they would have been kept on the premises." The oldest of the women was a 69-year-old Malaysian national; her fellow slaves were a 57-year-old Irish woman and a 30-year-old Briton, thought to have been born in the house and kept in servitude for her entire life.

Helped to rescue three women: Aneeta Prem, founder of Freedom Charity. Credit:AP When they first fell under the control of their captors, who are described as "non-British", Margaret Thatcher was beginning her second term as UK prime minister, Sally Ride was making history as the first woman in space and Return of the Jedi was filling cinemas. Almost as shocking as what was to happen to the women over the next three decades was the fact that they felt unable, in 20th and 21st-century Britain, to cry out for help. Mr Hyland said that they were allowed "some controlled freedom" but the mechanics of how they went outside and how far they were allowed to go remained unclear. The youngest victim is thought to have been denied the opportunity of going to school. Whether neighbours even knew she existed is another as yet unanswered question.

"I don't believe the neighbours knew anything about it at all," said Ms Prem. "It was just an ordinary house in an ordinary street." The turning point for the women came on October 4, when they watched a BBC news report featuring Ms Prem calling on Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, to track children who did not return to school following the summer holidays. Although the report was about child kidnappings, it featured the work of the Freedom Charity, and the women decided that they had at last found an organisation that they could trust. On October 18, taking what they no doubt believed to be a huge risk, the 57-year-old Irish captive managed to evade the attention of her masters long enough to telephone the charity. "The professionals shone through and made sure that call was taken seriously," said Ms Prem. It was the first of a series of phone calls over the following week in which she talked to Vineeta Thornhill, the charity's chief executive.

"We started in-depth talks to them when they could, it had to be pre-arranged. They gave us set times when they were able to speak to us." At first, the women were so frightened that they could not bring themselves to tell the charity the address of the house where they were being kept. But over the course of several calls, the charity's staff were able to build up a bond of trust with the women, until a clear picture of their terrible circumstances emerged along with the location where they were being held. As a result, on October 25, the women were able to pluck up the courage to do something they had been unable to do in their 30 years of captivity: walk out of the door of their prison against their masters' wishes. The two younger women met charity workers and the police at a pre-arranged location and officers went to the address and rescued the 69-year-old.

"It was planned that they would be able to walk out of the property," said Ms Prem. "The police were on standby. They were able to leave the property, but it was done in such a way ... it was a very, very excellent way it happened." She said that the women had been held in a "controlled freedom". "I think basically that a controlled freedom would mean that there are part freedoms, but a lot of it can be psychological and a lot of it can be physical as well," Ms Prem said. The women would previously have been allowed out of the house occasionally, but always escorted by their captors, she added. It would take another four weeks before police could move in and arrest the alleged captors, such was the difficulty in coaxing hard facts out of the women that could be used as evidence. "They were deeply traumatised, so information coming out from them was coming out slowly, that is one of the reasons for the gap before the arrests," said a police source.

Mr Hyland said: "We had to work very carefully with these people who were highly traumatised and it was very difficult to establish the facts. "We needed professional assistance from outside agencies. The last thing we wanted to do was increase that trauma. "Until we had facts to justify where we are now, we delayed that arrest." He added: "Our unit deals with many cases every year but has never unearthed such a staggering example of people held against their will for their whole lifetime." The women - who police say were not sexually abused - are now in the care of a charity, which is helping them to adjust to freedom, a process which is likely to take months.

Loading Ms Prem said: "They are going to be afforded all the help and support that can be given. I'm so grateful they saw the news. Now they will try to rebuild their lives. It was a very, very difficult life they led and all we can hope now is that they can move forward from this." The Telegraph, London