Locked away in an attic and robbed

By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 05 Jan 2016 • 8:40

TWO Spanish policemen must have thought they had fallen into the pages of a Stephen King horror as they slowly proceeded into a dank attic in the town of Dos Hermanas south of Seville.

There, they made a grim discovery. On a filthy mattress in a space no bigger than three square meters, was a naked elderly man. The room was foul and there was no water or toilet.

The Police were only draw to the house as a result of a complaint about the elder brother being drunk and causing problems in the town. However, once in the house and becoming curious of sounds from behind a bolted door, their investigation took on a more sombre gravity.

Unnamed police sources speaking to El Pais said that: the man’s siblings had apparently locked him up and lived off on his pension of €1,000 per month.

The sister was allegedly responsible for seeing to the imprisoned brother’s food, hygiene and medicine needs, and told the officers that they kept him locked up because he was mentally ill. Not convinced, the police demanded they open the padlock.

Behind the door they found another door made of wood, and behind that, a staircase that was about to collapse through decay. The stairs led them up to a narrow attic where they made the grisly discovery.

At this point, they realised that the 59-year-old man had been held captive and in squalor behind a padlocked door for many years by his brother 76, and sister 61.

The man was covered in dirt and lay naked on the mattress among empty bottles and rubbish bins filled with waste. He was immediately rushed to hospital where it was discovered by staff that he had not seen a doctor in more than 20 years, according to El Pais.

How long he had been imprisoned in the attic is unclear at this time. However none of his neighbours knew that someone was living in the ceiling void.

The man’s siblings have both been arrested and admitted to the Virgin de Valme psychiatric hospital, and are being charged with unlawful confinement, abuse charges and fraud. The 59-year-old man continues to recover in Hospital.