Man, 41, freed 'after mum locked him up for 28 years' had no teeth and could barely walk

He was found in horrendous conditions, had few teeth and barely any language skills or ability to walk.

The 41-year-old man was heavily malnourished with painful sores and open wounds across his legs.

Swedish media was told that the man struggled to walk and talk when medics found him in a flat in Stockholm.

A 70-year-old woman has been arrested in Sweden's capital on suspicion of holding her son captive at home for up to three decades, police and a prosecutor said today.

A suspicious relative gained access to the apartment on Sunday, and found the man in a wounded state, Stockholm prosecutor Emma Olsson told Reuters.

She said he may have been held for nearly 30 years.

Various Swedish media, citing a relative who found him, said the man was discovered lying on a blanket on the floor, toothless, unable to speak, and covered in sores and injuries.

He was taken to hospital and required surgery.

"He's now in hospital ... I know that he needed surgery," said Olsson, who gave no more details of his condition.

Neither have been named.

There was no immediate explanation of why the son had been held. Reuters was unable to contact family members for comment.

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet quotes sources as saying the mum was "very overprotective" of her son.

This came after a "family incident" that occurred in the past, the paper reports.

Alerted to the case by hospital staff treating the man, police cordoned off the apartment in the southern Stockholm district of Haninge for investigations.

"We are looking into how long the son may have been imprisoned, but we assume it's been a long period of time," a police spokesman told Reuters.

Aftonblat reports the man was found lying on a blanket, which may have been his bed, while the apartment was so messy that there were only small passages to move through.

While Expressen reports the female relative who found the man said the scene she came across was like a horror movie, with urine, dirt and dust and a "rotten" smell.

She told the paper that she had for several years suspected the man was being held in the flat and decided to explore the flat when she heard the 70-year-old was in hospital.

She said: "That home cannot have been cleaned for many years. There was complete silence apart from an old big TV which had been left on."

It was then that she heard a noise from a dark corner of the kitchen.

"I first noticed his legs. They looked horrific. Everything up to his knees were just sores and open wounds. A part of the calf was black and there were puddles of pus underneath him," she added.

He struggled to speak.

"I hadn't seen him for over 20 years, but when our eyes met, he whispered my name over and over," she added.

Neighbours reported the woman would stop to talk but would change the subject when asked about her son, only responding that he was "fine".

An advent candle left in the window of the flat for 30 years highlighted the dilapidated state of the property.

The relative who found him told 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.”

She added: "The mother was able to manipulate society all these years. It's horrible that he has been deprived of his entire life."

A man in his 40s was found in an apartment in the Haninge municipality in Stockholm Police investigating the apartment Barrier tape of the police was fixed on the door

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