Woman Arrested On Suspicion Of Locking Up Son In Apartment

A 70-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of locking up her son for 'a long time' after he was found malnourished, laying on the floor in her apartment in Sweden.

The man, who is now in his 40s, was found by a relative on Sunday (29 November).

Local reports say that he has almost no teeth and limited language skills, and also has various sores and injuries.

Stockholm police spokesman Ola Osterling told AFP: "The mother is suspected of illegal deprivation of liberty and causing bodily harm."

PA

Osterling added: "The man is in hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening."

He confirmed the man had been locked up for a 'long time' but would not comment on reports from local press that this covered a period of 28 years, after his mother reportedly took him out of school when he was 12 years old.

The relative who found him said the flat smelled 'rotten' and that there was urine, dirt and dust covering the floor.

She told Swedish news outlet Expressen: "I'm in shock, broken-hearted, but at the same time relieved. I've been waiting for this day for 20 years because I figured out that she was totally controlling his life, but I never imagined the extent of it.

"I knew he was there and that he must be scared because his mother was his only sense of security and now she was gone."

PA

The relative added: "She stole his life from him and manipulated the people around her in order to keep her secret.

"I'm just thankful that he got help and is going to survive."

An unidentified neighbour who lives in the same building as the mother and son said that she ran into the man a few months ago in a shop.

Speaking to the Aftonbladet newspaper, she said that man had said to her: "I know who you are, you're my neighbour."

But others in the neighbourhood told local media they hadn't seen the man in years.

Another neighbour told Aftonbladet: "They almost never went outside, never even opened the windows for fresh air. It's been holed up."

Another woman said she occasionally ran into the mother, saying: "We talked about small stuff, like you do. Sometimes I asked about the boy, and she just said he was fine, she never really talked about him."

Topics: Weird, Sweden

Amelia Ward

Amelia is a journalist at LADbible. After studying journalism at Liverpool John Moores and Salford Uni (don't ask), she went into PR and then the world of music. She spent a few years working on festivals and events before joining LADbible. In her spare time, Amelia likes music and spending good, quality time with her cat, Paul. You can contact Amelia at [email protected].

@ameliasward