German couple jailed in Spain after children kept in ‘house of horror’

A German couple have been sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison in Spain after locking their three children in a “house of horror” filled with rubbish for three and a half years.

A court in the northern city of Oviedo on Monday found the 54-year-old man and his 49-year-old wife guilty of psychological abuse and negligence, although they were acquitted of the more serious charge of unlawful detention.

Prosecutors had demanded a 25-year prison sentence for the pair in a shocking case that made headlines in both Spain and Germany.

The children, then 8-year-old twins and a 10-year-old boy, were freed at the end of April 2025 after a neighbour alerted the police. Investigators spoke of a “house of horror.”

The parents maintained their innocence and claimed they isolated their three young children from the outside world to protect them from contracting diseases such as Covid-19.

However, police told dpa that the children were found “dirty, in their pyjamas and severely neglected,” as well as “significantly malnourished.”

The house was reportedly “littered with rubbish everywhere” while a seriously ill cat was also found surrounded by excrement.

The children were reportedly forced to wear nappies and face masks and had been completely cut off from the outside world, not even being allowed into the garden.

According to the investigators’ report, the twins could neither read nor write. All three children were reportedly immobile, walked hunched over and had difficulty climbing stairs. They had last seen a doctor in Germany in 2019.

Since their rescue, the children have been in the care of the social services in Asturias. Following the conviction, one of the options being considered is to put them up for adoption, said a spokesman for the judiciary.

The father is German and the mother is a German-US dual national.