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Updated 11.23pm
THE EMBASSY OF Ireland in London has made contact with British authorities tonight to “establish the details” behind reports that one of three women freed from captivity in London was Irish.
The Head of Scotland Yard’s Human Trafficking Unit told reporters earlier that one of the women is a 57-year-old Irish woman, and that it was she who made the call to a charity which led to their rescue.
The Embassy will be offering all available consular assistance to the woman if it is confirmed that she is Irish, the Department of Foreign Affairs said tonight.
Contact Gardaí
Scotland Yard has not yet moved to contact Gardaí in relation to the rescue. Any such request would be dealt with through Interpol.
The three women were discovered in a house, having been held captive for thirty years.
They had made contact with Freedom Charity last month after seeing a television documentary which described its work. The charity contacted police who then carried out the rescue on October 25th.
The charity’s founder Aneeta Prem spoke briefly this evening to Channel 4 News on claims that the women had a form of “controlled freedom”:
“They may have been seen on occasions, but they were always escorted”.
A man and a woman, both aged 67 and described as non-British, were arrested at their home in London “as part of an investigation into slavery and domestic servitude”, Scotland Yard said.
A spokesman for Britain’s interior minister Theresa May said she was “shocked by this appalling case”.
He said May would wait for the outcome of the police investigation, but “she’s made clear her determination to tackle the scourge of modern slavery”.
“Vigilance and action”
Meanwhile, the Migrants Rights Council Ireland welcomed the rescue of the women, with Director Siobhán O’Donoghue saying that “shocking cases like this highlight the need for vigilance and action”.
The Council said it has dealt with “200 separate cases of forced labour around [Ireland]“.
“This is happening right now in Ireland”, O’Donoghue said, “a fact the authorities here are often reluctant to believe, which means victims of slavery are often not identified as such”.
Additional reporting by AFP and Michelle Hennessy
Originally published 10.31pm
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Pretty much a given considering we are in the depths of winter. This weather is normal, predictable and consistent. Have a wonderful day all.
@Marvin Dollery: like that song.. ohh the weather outside is…. weather.
@Marvin Dollery: Given that it is, as you say, predictable isn’t it nice of Met Eireann to share their predictions?
@Marvin Dollery: nobody else is afraid of these stories Marvin, no need to share your coping mechanisms.
@Setanta O’Toole: Except for the kids your lot torment with constant climate change catastrophe dialogue despite it not ever going to happen. Maybe think before posting ridiculous comments.
@Marvin Dollery: never talked to anyone about climate change in my life Marv, you are just projecting.
@Marvin Dollery: mystic Marvin and the old Moore’s almanac all rolled into one
@Pork Hunt: if his climate change predictions are anything like his election ones, we better brace for an imminent apocalypse.
Hopefully in the new year we will be allowed to comment on the stories that matter, like long con vid article.
@087 bed: I know someone who died of long covid recently, so it’s not a con you gimp
@Freda Peeple: Another insightful input from you, always one like you “that “knew a fell”, You need to up you’re game in 25.
@087 bed: Wrong, I was at his funeral at the end of November, 39 from Raheny, Google it you pr7ck
@Basildon Joe: Nope completely healthy so I think you should keep your “feelings” separate to facts. The likes of yourself, and that other illiterate monkey hate facts.
@087 bed: or maybe mention the foreign looking Dublin bus driver who flattened an eight year old lad with a clatter
Happy new year new zealand
What a shock. Winter weather in Ireland. In the winter
@Marc Power: A comment like yours. What a shock.
The UN must begin the legal process to expel the US from it’s structures, and following a vote, to subsequently assemble an international military force to expel the Nazi Zionist regime from Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.
@Denis Harkin: Yes very hard to think of a happy new year with the US killing children in Gaza.
Is it still ok to hate the weather?
How many newborns in Ireland tomorrow, will be Irish, I ponder
@Liam Boyne: Considering they’re born in Ireland, I’d say100%….?
@Athena: I think you missed completely what I was implying
And still no response from the journal as to what good are them unlicensed Joe brollies are in their pic accompanying the story to people in the wind n rain apart from been a nuisance to other footpaths users where the spokes can take one’s eye out
I hope to see mass deportation of several families, in the new year
This year has thrown everything at us weather wise, bring it on..
@Jamie Hinch: Weren’t you on here saying the last bout of windy weather was akin to a hurricane? It didn’t lift as much as a lid of a bin here in an area that was said to be most affected.
@Marvin Dollery: Houses lost their roofs in City and surrounds duringthat storm/hurricane. That was not just windy that night FYI.
@Jamie Hinch: It was a windy night, also called a storm. Magnitudes different to a hurricane.
Hopefully, Israel will flatten Palestine for good
Lovely day here in Gstaad.
Should really restrict hospital visits and take measures to reduce spread of flu and Covid.
In 2025, that disgusting Hamas flag, needs to be removed from Leinster House, it’s a pity that this country has absolutely no opposition in the Dail, so depressing
Some ar*ehole of a country weatherwise
@Tim Brennan: and politically
Jeez Kerry and Cork really get the worst weather
Looks like the little coksucker Brenny mobilised all his multiple accounts to thumbs up to generate favour because his bosses said so, what a rag The Journal.ie is, a lefty rag, nobody take it seriously
Will Brenny be bringing out his Michael Collins account tonight lol
have your say