In October of 2013, the British organisation Freedom Charity received a call on their hotline. The woman on the other end said that her housemate had been held captive in South London for 30 years. At the time of this call, Katy Morgan-Davies was 30 years old, and the period of her imprisonment was her entire life. She, and the women she lived with, believed that an invisible machine called JACKIE could control household appliances, read their thoughts, and would incinerate them if they tried to escape the man they called ‘Comrade Bala’ – who was the covert leader of the world, and, in fact, God himself. Support Let's Talk About Sects: a podcast about cults Links: Caged Bird — by Katy Morgan-Davies, Random House, 2018The Cult Next Door — BBC documentary directed by Vanessa Engle, 2017Aravindan Balakrishnan: the Maoist cult leader who used brutal violence and rape to strip women of their dignity — by Victoria Ward, The Telegraph, 4 December 2015Thirty Years in Captivity — by Simon Parkin, The New Yorker, 3 December 2016The Classification and Dynamics of Sectarian Forms of Organisation: Grid/Group Perspectives on the Far-Left in Britain — by Stephen Frank Rayner, PhD thesis for University College London, 1979Statements of the National Executive Committee, CPE (ML) — Transcription, Editing and Markup by Sam Richards and Paul Saba for the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line – first published in The Marxist-Leninist, (Internal Discussion journal of the Communist Party of England (Marxist-Leninist)) Vol. 1, No. 1, September 1974Maoist cult follower: “I think he’s being framed” — Channel 4 News segment with Josephine Herivel, 4 December 2015Maoist cult leader Aravindan Balakrishnan jailed for 23 years — by Hardeep Matharu, the Independent, 29 January 2016The radical ideological background of 'slave women' suspects — by Jake Wallis Simons, The Telegraph, 24 November 2013Slavery case: suspects named as former Maoist collective leaders — by Martin Evans, The Telegraph, 25 November 2013Cultists & communists – too close to us for comfort — by Nick Cohen, The Spectator, 25 November 2013Alleged slaves pictured in 1997 ITV documentary footage — The Telegraph, 26 November 2013Slavery case: our beautiful girl has gone, but she is still my beloved sister — by Sarah Rainey, The Telegraph, 30 November 2013London cult: The past is the past, says Aishah's sister — by Nur Aqidah Azizi, New Straits Times, 30 January 2017Sect leader's daughter inspired by Harry Potter books to fight him, court told — by Sandra Laville, The Guardian, 20 November 2015Maoist sect leader's conviction may reopen commune death inquiry — by Robert Booth, The Guardian, 5 December 2015Who were the women who formed Balakrishnan's Maoist collective? — by Victoria Ward, The Telegraph, 4 December 2015Maoist cult leader Comrade Bala framed by state say backers — by Robert Booth, The Guardian, 29 January 2016Maoist cult chief Aravindan Balakrishnan claims challenge to his leadership caused space shuttle disaster — by Paul Peachey, The Independent, 26 November 2015Comrade Bala: How the brutal cult chief chronicled every detail of his tyranny — by Paul Peachey, The Independent, 4 December 2015Maoist cult leader used mind control to 'manacle' followers, court hears — The Telegraph, 16 November 2015Slavery case: woman describes cousin's time in Brixton commune — The Telegraph, 26 November 2013Suspect in Marxist 'slave' case released without charge — by Martin Evans, The Telegraph, 24 September 2014Maoist cult leader father kept me a slave for 30 years - but I would forgive him — by Giulia Rhodes, Sunday Express, 30 April 2018Woman describes being held captive by London cult for 30 years — by Toby Meyjes, Metro, 18 January 2017The musical prodigy who threw her life away for 'teacher' — by Deborah McAleese, Belf