London Maoist cult

Community cult leader Aravindan Balakrishnan, 75, established the Workers’ Institute of Marxism-leninismmao Zedong Thought in the 1970s. He portrayed himself as an ‘all-powerful and all-seeing’ God-like figure, convincing followers of his Maoist cult he controlled the sun, moon and wind.

He created a culture of fear by claiming he harnessed a force that could read their thoughts. Balakrishnan raped and beat his devotees, while also keeping his daughter, fathered with one of his followers, prisoner in his south London commune. Until his arrest in 2013, she and others were brainwashed and terrorised. In 2016, he was jailed for 23 years after being convicted of four rapes, six indecent assaults, two further assaults and false imprisonment.