The couple accused of keeping three women as slaves for more than 30 years ran a communist sect worshipping Chinese leader Mao Zedong, it was revealed today.
The pair, of Indian and Tanzanian origin, are reportedly Aravindan Balakrishnan, 73, and his wife Chanda, 67, whose far-Left activities allegedly led to them being arrested and jailed in the 1970s.
They were held by police last Thursday after three alleged victims - a 30-year-old Briton called Rosie, a 57-year-old Irishwoman and a 69-year-old Malaysian - accused them of years of 'physical and mental abuse' and keeping them in servitude for decades.
It emerged today that the couple had helped organise a Maoist squat in a Brixton bookshop.
It was shut down in 1978 when police raided and arrested 14 people there, including the couple.
It is alleged the suspects, known as Comrade Bala and Comrade Chanda to other members, both later served a prison sentence after a conviction for assaulting a police officer involved in the raid.
Between them they were arrested at least eight times during the 1970s.
Scotland Yard and the secret services are believed to have been aware of the couple's far-Left views.
Their main recruits were like-minded women, who they urged to do 'revolutionary work', and their group held lectures, put on films and printed leaflets encouraging the fall of capitalism in Britain, it is alleged.
Their squat - called the Mao Zedong Memorial Centre - also contained a library, and was set up, according to one member, when 'our beloved Chairman Mao passed away on September 9, 1976'.
