London, Jan 16 (ANI): After working as a maid for 40 years, a woman, who had been kept as a slave on an Alpine farm since 15 years of age, has now been freed by Austrian social workers.

The now 55-year-old un-identified woman is understood to have learning difficulties and is now in care.

According to Austrian authorities, the women was handed over by her parents and had to work for four decades on the farm at Deutschlandsberg in Arnold Schwarzenegger's home province of Styria in Austria.

After her release, the woman has told police that she was not leading a bad life earlier and was given regular meals and a TV of her own until 2004.

But when the farmer had died, his wife took over the property and started to beat her and kept her without meals.

"She used to beat me and pull my hair. She even took away my TV," the Telegraph quoted her as saying.

However, acting on an anonymous tip-off, the police raided the property and freed the woman who has now been put in the care of a foster family.

Local council spokesman Helmut-Theoboald Mueller said: "She had been seen by visitors in the area over the years and she was always working. Because she had learning difficulties that made it hard for her to communicate - and no one realised her predicament. It was only when her meals started being cut and she started to get ill that we were alerted." (ANI)