A missing teenage boy has been found alive in a cupboard at a suspected paedophile's flat during a police raid.
The youth, named as Marvin K, trembled as he held onto his mum "really tightly" and begged her to take him back home after being 'locked away' for two and a half years.
His mum Manuela, 53, said her son told her "l couldn't get any fresh air" during his ordeal.
Dressed in the same filthy clothing he disappeared in, the boy was found at the property in Recklinghausen, Germany, but police said there were no signs he had been held by force.
The screams of a man had been heard by neighbours coming from the flat, but they said they had not seen Marvin, reports the Sun Online .
Officers were searching the apartment on suspicion of child pornography before the boy was discovered.
Lars H, 44, an unemployed handyman, was being held in custody last night on suspicion of sharing images of child abuse.
Marvin was taken into care following the death of his dad before going missing aged 13.
At 11.37am on June 11, 2017, he sent a message on Whatsapp before his phone was switched off permanently.
The teen had told carers earlier that day he was going to meet friends in the centre of the town, which is 60 miles north of Cologne.
Manuela said she believed her son was either dead, or "somewhere he could not get in touch with me".
“We both cried. He took my hand and wouldn’t let go.
“I had pictured to myself for two and a half years how it would be to see him again.”
Police were said to be close to giving up their search, having appealed for information in July on Aktenzeichen XY, the German version of Crimewatch.
