Slavery ‘hidden in plain sight’ warns Theresa May

TACKLING modern slavery in Britain is a “personal priority”, the Home Secretary has said following the discovery of three women allegedly held as slaves for at least 30 years.

Theresa May said details were still emerging in the case in Lambeth, south London, but it was clear many other victims were 'hidden in plain sight'. Picture: Getty

Theresa May said details were still emerging in the case in Lambeth, south London, but it was clear many other victims were “hidden in plain sight”.

Scotland Yard revealed on Saturday that two of the three women rescued had lived in a “collective” with the man arrested after meeting through a “shared political ideology”.

A man and women, both 67, have been released on bail after being arrested on Thursday morning in connection with the investigation into slavery and domestic servitude.

Mrs May said the one positive of the case was that more people were aware of the issue.

“It is all around us, hidden in plain sight,” she said.

“It is walking our streets, supplying shops and supermarkets, working in fields, factories or nail bars, trapped in brothels or cowering behind the curtains.

“Something most of us thought consigned to history books, belonging to a different century, is a shameful and shocking presence in modern Britain.”