German husband, 55, is arrested after his wife, 53, is found naked with her head shaved and broken legs and fingers in locked ‘torture’ room ‘having been held captive in a flat in France since 2011’

German husband, 55, is arrested after his wife, 53, is found naked with her head shaved and broken legs and fingers in locked ‘torture’ room ‘having been held captive in a flat in France since 2011’

• The woman was found inside a flat in Forbach, northern France on Monday
• French police were tipped off after she was able to steal a cell phone and alert their German counterparts across the border

By Chris Jewers

Updated: 14:07 BST, 7 August 2023

A German man has been arrested in France after his wife was found naked inside a ‘torture room’ with her head shaved and her legs and fingers broken.

The 55-year-old is accused of holding his 53-year-old wife captive in a flat since 2011, when she claims she was first kidnapped by her husband.

The woman, also German, was found in a flat in the northern French town of Forbach that sits on the country’s border with Germany, and immediately rushed to hospital.

The man, who according to local media is her husband, was arrested on Monday morning on suspicion of kidnap and torture.

Reports said the woman was able to steal her husband’s cell phone and call German police from the flat on Sunday, August 6.

A German man has been arrested in France after his wife was found naked inside a ‘torture room’ with her head shaved and her legs and fingers broken. The woman was found in a flat in the northern French town of Forbach that sits on the country’s border with Germany, and immediately rushed to hospital. Pictured: The building on Forbach’s Saint-Rémy avenue where the woman was held, according to local media

Officers alerted their French counterparts across the border in the Moselle region, who conducted a search of the Forbach flat a day later, on August 7.

When Initially confronted by police, the man is understood to have refused officers entry into the flat. Nevertheless, the officials were able to gain entry.

Inside, they made the terribly discovery, finding the frightened victim locked inside a ‘screened room’, French media reported citing a police source.

It said her head was shaved, her legs and fingers had been broken in the past, and it appeared she had not eaten in a long time.

Police said the bedroom was closed off with metal wire. 

She was attended to by medics and taken immediately to hospital, while the man – who is now previously known to the police – was taken into custody.

A case has been opened by investigators from the judicial police of Metz who are reported to have found a ‘torture bench’ inside the dwelling, as well as a notebook in which the man is said to have noted the time he fed the alleged victim.

Officials also found metal reinforcements installed on the windows, although officers noted that the apartment is also home to around a dozen cats, and that the fences could have been installed to prevent the animals from escaping.

The man facing charges of kidnapping, aggravated rape and acts of torture and barbarity, reports say.

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