The Irish daughter of a Second World War codebreaker is one of three women allegedly held as a slave by a Maoist sect, it has been claimed.
Josephine Herivel, in her fifties, is the daughter of John Herivel, one of the leading codebreakers at Bletchley Park who deciphered the Enigma code.
Reports suggest that last week’s arrests of slavery suspect Aravindan Balakrishnan and his wife Chanda in Brixton, south London, were triggered when Ms Herivel raised the alarm.
The couple were arrested on suspicion of slavery related offences amid claims that three women were held against their will for more than 30 years.
Brought up with her two sisters, Mary and Susan in Belfast, she joined Balakrishnan’s extremist collective in the 1970s after moving to London to study, turning her back on her family.
When her father died in 2011 obituaries only made mention of his two other daughters, who now live in London.
Attempts by her family to make contact failed, according to family friend Frances Presley.
She told The Times: “They have tried to contact her for years. I know she was involved in some kind of cult group. My understanding is that she cut herself off (from the family). I know they have always tried their best.”
