Two of the women held as slaves in a London home for 30 years may have been identified, with claims one is the daughter of a World War II British codebreaker and the other a Malaysian woman from the southern state of Johor.
Josephine Herivel, aged 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 south London were triggered when 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, Herivel joined Balakrishnan's extremist collective in the 1970s after moving to London to study, turning her back on her family, it is claimed.
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."
Herivel was prosecuted in 1978 after police raided the group's south London bookshop and headquarters. She and five fellow cult members appeared in court charged with obstructing police officers.
Malaysia's top police official Khalid Abu Bakar, citing information provided by British police, on Wednesday confirmed the woman was Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab, The Star newspaper said in a brief report on its website in Kuala Lumpur.
Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab, who would now be 69, left for Britain around 1968 with her Malaysian fiance, but the relationship soon deteriorated and her family lost track of her, said Mohamad Noh Mohamad Dom, 67.
His wife, Kamar Mahtum, has boarded a flight to London early on Wednesday hoping to confirm whether the woman was her sister, said Mohamad Noh in Jelebu, Johor.
"We have mixed feelings," he told AFP.
"Happy, because we believe we have found a lost family member, and sad, because we hear that she is sick and has been held captive for more than 30 years."
He said the family was notified by British media that the woman was believed to be Siti Aishah.
Kamar, 69, in an interview with Britain's Daily Telegraph published on Tuesday, described a bright and optimistic young woman. After studying at one of Malaysia's elite schools, she obtained a scholarship to study surveying in England but is believed to have fallen under the spell of the couple.
"When my wife found out that Siti Aishah is alive and has been saved from being held as captive, she cried," Mohamad Noh said.
"I am not sure if she will remember me but I am hopeful she will," Kamar told The Malaysian Insider before leaving for London.
The three woman, including a 30-year-old Briton, were freed on October 25 after one of them secretly contacted a charity.
The 30-year-old is believed to have spent her entire life in servitude.
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