German mystery over man, 43, who never left home

The man’s mother, 76, said she and her husband had never locked him in. “He just didn’t want to go out”, she told local journalists.

He was bullied at secondary school, she said, and she had just wanted to protect him.

She told Bavarian news website Reporter 24 she had kept all the details, every word of abuse, every attack of the bullies.

“I cannot even repeat such horrible words,” she said.

Later he did not want to leave the house any more “out of fear” for his fellow-students, she said.