Cult 'Death Threat Over Ken Livingstone Crush'

A cult leader threatened to kill his daughter when she admitted to a crush on Ken Livingstone, a court has heard.

Aravindan Balakrishnan physically and sexually abused some of the women who lived within his south London commune over a period of some 30 years, jurors were told.

The 75-year-old faces 16 charges including rape, indecent assault, actual bodily harm, cruelty to a person under 16 and false imprisonment. He denies them all.

Prosecutor Rosina Cottage QC told Southwark Crown Court that Comrade Bala, as he was known, insisted that his daughter tell him immediately if she ever dreamt about someone else.

The court heard that when she confessed she was attracted to the former Mayor of London, her father said she was "getting flu because she was being unfaithful" and that a mythical entity known as Jackie was preparing to execute her.

Ms Cottage said: "The defendant had told her when she was about 13-years-old that she should not dream about someone else, and that if she did she should tell him straight away so that he could protect her from having crushes.

"So, she told him that she had a crush on Ken Livingstone. She thought that if she wrote it down in a nice way then he would be nice and understand.

"After that she came down with the flu and he said that Jackie was preparing to execute her for going against the defendant and having a crush on Ken.

"He said that she was getting flu because she was being unfaithful to him, the centre of the world."

In another incident, Balakrishnan beat his daughter, and windows in the house were kept closed for three years after she had a sexual affair with a neighbour, it was alleged.

In August 2005 the commune moved to a property on the Angel estate in Brixton, south London, when she developed feelings for a neighbour, Marius Feneck, who she called her "angel", the court heard.

Mr Balakrishnan has been described as "charismatic" and an "energetic speaker" who was the leader of a south London-based communist group known as the Workers Institute in the 1970s.

It is alleged that as the numbers of the group declined, he became increasingly controlling and the "collective" evolved into a "cult" comprising of about six women, including his wife.

Balakrishnan, of Enfield, north London, denies seven counts of indecent assault and four counts of rape against two women during the 1970s and 1980s.

He also denies three counts of ABH, cruelty to a child under 16 and false imprisonment.

The trial continues.