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The town sign of Freienfels near Bayreuth, southern Germany. Nicolas Armer/dpa via AP

Police investigate after man "held in isolation" at parents home for 30 years

The man has been taken to a psychiatric hospital and German police are investigating whether his parents did anything wrong.

POLICE IN GERMANY are investigating the case of a 43-year-old man who lived in isolation at his parents’ home in Bavaria for three decades.

The man has been taken to a psychiatric hospital and German police are investigating whether his parents did anything wrong.

Police went to the home in Freienfels, in southeastern Germany near Bayreuth, on 21 September after receiving a tip and found the man in a neglected condition, police spokesman Juergen Stadter said today.

“The man was unkempt, unwashed, but well nourished,” Stadter said.

But he wasn’t constrained and had several rooms to himself where he could move around freely.

Police are now investigating whether the man stayed inside for all those years of his own will or if his parents forced him to stay at home.

The Guardian reports that a police spokesman said they were investigating whether the man had been allowed to leave the property at all.

“We still don’t know exactly for how long the man has had no contact with the outside world and … whether or not he was allowed to leave the property at all,” the police spokesman said.

But we can say he was held in isolation.

The man’s parents, who are in their late 70s, are under investigation on suspicion of possible deprivation of freedom and causing bodily harm by neglect.

“We assume that he was suffering from some kind of handicap,” Stadter said, adding that as a boy the man went to elementary school, but then stopped attending school at 13 because he was declared unfit to attend.

Stadter would not give further details on what exactly kept the man from attending school, citing privacy concerns.

The man’s mother, who wasn’t named, was quoted as telling the local Nordbayerischer Kurier newspaper that the parents’ didn’t lock him up and “he didn’t want to go outside”.

She said she “always wanted to protect him,” and indicated that as a little boy, her son was treated badly by his schoolmates, the newspaper said.

Local authorities said the man didn’t initially want to leave the house and had to be convinced to go, news agency DPA reported.

with reporting from Cormac Fitzgerald

Read:Newborn baby girl and skeleton discovered in suitcase in Germany

Read: German woman kidnapped in Syria while pregnant has been released with her baby

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11 Comments
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    Mute bmul
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:08 PM

    Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia) is not in any state

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    Mute Santa Claus
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:14 PM

    It is, it’s in an awful state.

    289
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    Mute Seamus Donoghue
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:10 PM

    Question 1 is completely incorrect. Gave up there.

    295
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    Mute John Fahey
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    Dec 31st 2015, 8:23 PM

    Agree – it’s not in any state as they didn’t want any one state having control over the federal government.

    11
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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Dec 31st 2015, 8:56 PM

    They want it to be a state now govern like the other states but those on the Hill do not want that.

    4
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    Mute Colin Tyrrell
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:09 PM

    Gave up after Question 1. Washington DC is not in a State. It’s built on donated land from Maryland & Virginia which created District of Columbia. Unless my schooling was completely wrong

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    Mute Amy Gaffney
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:10 PM

    I thought Washington DC wasn’t part of any state? Didn’t Maryland just donate land to the district? I could be wrong…

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    Mute Fergal Reid
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:57 PM

    Maryland and Virginia. The far side of the Potomac was later ceded back to Virginia.

    51
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    Mute Fintan C Hennessy
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    Dec 30th 2015, 11:25 PM

    In fairness “how many times can Ireland fit into Russia?” Is a stupid question. It’s guessing at best.

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    Mute Amy Gaffney
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    Dec 31st 2015, 1:08 PM

    In fairness druid, if you knew all 54 African countries and their flags you’ve been wasting your life. Be happy with your one!

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    Mute Niall Waters
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:11 PM

    I said Ireland for the highest population question. I was right to say Ireland too because Ireland is the right answer. If you meant Republic of Ireland you should have said ‘Republic of Ireland’.

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    Mute Aidan
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:39 PM

    “The name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland.” – Article 4

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    Mute Mark Corrigan
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:41 PM

    Must try harder. Two incorrect questions although i went for ireland as its not a country. Pretty easy for a supposed hard quiz

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    Mute Ariana
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:45 PM

    It says ‘countries’ not ‘islands’, Ireland is the official name for the this country as per the Constitution.

    38
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    Mute Matty Reese
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    Dec 30th 2015, 10:24 PM

    “Republic of Ireland” is a football team. The official name of the country is written on the cover of your passport (as is the norm) and in two languages no less.

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    Mute Guybrush Threepwood
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    Dec 31st 2015, 6:03 PM

    You would be right if you said ‘Ireland’(although not for your reasoning). As per the Good Friday Agreement the population of Ireland can include anybody living in Northern Ireland that takes Irish citizenship.

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    Mute Ron Koeman
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:13 PM

    District of Columbia isn’t a state. The city of Washington has no senator, its why they have “taxation without representation” on their car licence plates. Poor form to get such an easy question wrong in a quiz you created.

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    Mute Tony Stack
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:28 PM

    They have no congressman

    23
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    Mute RossMcEntegart
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:34 PM

    They have Congressmen/women, but no Senators.

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    Mute Dan Morgan
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    Dec 30th 2015, 10:33 PM

    The have one honorary congressperson, who has no voting rights in Congress, yet the cities budget is decided upon by the House.

    /Useless knowledge acquired from too much time watching West Wing

    28
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    Mute Andrea Rock Massey
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    Dec 31st 2015, 12:52 AM

    I’m in the middle of watching it again! It just never gets old…

    9
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    Mute Business Cat
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:26 PM

    Question one is tricky cos its wrong!

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    Mute Nigel McCormack
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    Dec 30th 2015, 10:04 PM

    Answer to Q5 is also wrong. It is the Gall-Peters Projection, commonly known as the Peters projection.
    Sorry for being pedantic
    Any hardcore West Wing fan knows it well

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    Mute Trea Lynch
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    Dec 30th 2015, 11:04 PM

    Brilliant episode!

    19
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    Mute Andrea Rock Massey
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    Dec 31st 2015, 12:53 AM

    Poor CJ couldn’t cope..

    8
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    Mute Not Neo, not Trinity
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:27 PM

    There are 50 states in the USA, DC is not in any of them. DC does not a Senator or a Congressman, it is governed by the House of Representatives, and has a Mayor. I

    55
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    Mute Rasputin
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:33 PM

    Washington DC is a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any U.S. state.

    46
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    Mute Leadóg Hackett
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:29 PM

    Ireland has 6.4 million people. Norway is next with just over 5 million.

    45
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    Mute Matty Reese
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    Dec 30th 2015, 10:27 PM

    It was 4,588,252 at the last census, unlikely to have grown by 2 million since then.

    16
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    Mute Leadóg Hackett
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    Dec 30th 2015, 10:31 PM

    It’s careless to overlook nearly 2 million people.

    21
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    Mute catkins407
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:12 PM

    Well I’m shite at geography…..

    30
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    Mute Colin Tyrrell
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:14 PM

    So is the author, judging by the first question

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    Mute Santa Claus
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:16 PM

    HO HO HO! ;D

    23
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    Mute Sean Costello
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    Dec 30th 2015, 10:17 PM

    Questions 1 & 5 are incorrect. It’s called the Peters projection (or galls Peter to be very accurate). And while it does show the correct area of the countries of the world, it doesn’t show the correct shape.

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    Mute Thomas O' Donnell
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    Dec 30th 2015, 11:56 PM

    Nearest city to Dublin is Liverpool. Now, if the question was which of THESE cities is closest …

    27
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    Mute John O Neill
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:36 PM

    Washington DC, I thought that meant de capital,!!!

    22
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    Mute Patrick Agnew
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    Dec 30th 2015, 10:15 PM

    I got the Los Angeles one only. That, only because the world map was on view :-(

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    Mute Aoife Pauline Delaney
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    Dec 30th 2015, 10:39 PM

    This should be called the hardest ever primary school geography quiz. Geography is a lot more than knowing capital cities and population numbers!

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    Mute billy dunne
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    Dec 31st 2015, 12:54 AM

    10/10 on fourth try ;)

    13
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    Mute Tony Stack
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    Dec 30th 2015, 9:28 PM

    7/10. Some hard questions there

    12
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    Mute funkybuscuits
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    Dec 30th 2015, 10:27 PM

    Load of shite

    12
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    Mute Arthur Pewty
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    Dec 30th 2015, 10:40 PM

    started well…..

    7
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    Mute Trea Lynch
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    Dec 30th 2015, 11:05 PM

    8/10…smugness

    5
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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Dec 31st 2015, 8:54 PM

    You scored 4 out of 10!
    What are ewe doing!?
    You lost?

    DC is a clue to the first one, District of Columbia?

    2
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