Austrian held for locking up a family of 6

Dutch police are holding an Austrian man after the discovery of a father and his adult children who are believed to have stayed hidden in a remote farmhouse “waiting for the end of time” for years.

The mystery surrounding the case in the village of Ruinerwold in the northern province of Drenthe deepened with reports that one of the children had been active on social media in 2019.

Police said they discovered a father and five of his offspring, aged between 18 and 25, on Monday and arrested a 58-yearold man – not the father – for failing to co-operate.

Dutch and Austrian media said a man known as “Josef, the Austrian” had held the group in the cellar, renting the house and planting vegetables for them in the garden.

Ruinerwold’s mayor said: “I have never come across anything like this before.”

The oldest of the children, a 25-year-old who has gone only by the name of “Jan”, kept a Facebook account and for the first time in nine years posted an update in June, according to Dutch media.

Local news station RTV Drenthe, which first reported the story, said police were alerted after “Jan” walked into a village bar on Sunday evening.

A dishevelled and dirty man said “he has not been ‘outside’ for the past nine years,” bar owner Chris Westerbeek told RTV Drenthe.

Upon investigation, police discovered a hidden staircase behind a cupboard leading to a cellar where the father and his children were hiding.