Comrade Bala's daughter was third enslaved victim police returned to captors in four years

When she got home 'Fran' was slapped by her father for being a traitor and berated for being a police agent

Aravindan Balakrishnan with members of the cult he lead, including his daughter, (Reuters)

The failed escape attempt by Comrade Bala’s daughter was the third time in four years that enslaved victims have been unwittingly returned to their tormentors by the police, The Independent can reveal.

The woman, “Fran”, fled the communist commune unaccompanied for the first time in 2005 but a member of staff at Streatham police station did not know what to do and persuaded her to call the cult leader. Bala’s daughter had said that she was running away because of oppression but did not detail the violence against her, the court was told.

An agreement was struck at the police station to allow Bala’s daughter more freedom, but when she got home she was slapped by her father for being a traitor and berated for being a police agent. It was followed by another eight years of captivity.

Police records do not show any attempt to follow up the case during that period.

During the Balakrishnan trial, a separate court case in London heard how a Nigerian “houseboy” made a similar failed escape bid from a middle-aged couple who had enslaved him at various homes around Britain for 24 years. Their victim attempted to flee and went to a police station, but was sent away by a civilian member of staff with only a lost property form for his missing passport.

His ordeal ended only when he contacted an anti-trafficking charity.

In the third case, Hertfordshire police have apologised and paid compensation to an enslaved maid after police failed to believe her story and sent her back to her abusers in 2008. The force admitted it had failed to protect the woman and even used one of her slave masters to act as an interpreter.