MISSING BOY FOUND IN THE CLOSET OF ‘PAEDOPHILE’

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: The case of a missing 15-year-old boy found in a closet at the flat of a suspected paedophile has gripped Germany, but his mother says she just wants to celebrate Christmas with her son

Marvin had been missing for over two years when he was found hiding in a cupboard last Friday as police searched the home of a 44-year-old man suspected of distributing child pornography

Marvin, who disappeared after saying goodbye to his carers at a youth shelter early on June 11, 2017, is currently in psychiatric care

“I want to visit him for Christmas, to celebrate a little with him,” his mother Manuela B, 53, told German tabloid Bild

A police spokesman on Monday said the decision on when Marvin can go home “is up to the doctors, not the police”

Many questions remain answered in the case that German media have dubbed an “Advent miracle” - including how the boy ended up at the flat and if he could have left at any time

The 44-year-old suspect at whose flat Marvin was found has been arrested and charged with a serious sexual offence Prosecutors in Bochum on Monday said the man already had a 2018 conviction for possessing child pornography but was only given a ten-month suspended sentence The boy was already staying with the man at that point as he is understood to have lived at the flat for “at least two years”, chief prosecutor Christian Kuhnert told DPA news agency

What exactly happened in the first months after the child’s disappearance “is still being looked into”, he added