FRANKFURT AM MAIM, Germany (AFP) — The case of a missing 15-year-old boy found in a closet at the flat of a suspected pedophile has gripped Germany, but his mother says she just wants to celebrate Christmas with her son.

Marvin had been missing for over two years when he was found hiding in a cupboard last Friday as police searched the home of a 44-year-old man suspected of distributing child pornography.

The stunning discovery in the western German town of Recklinghausen has drawn comparisons to the Austrian case of Natascha Kampusch, who was held by her kidnapper for eight years before she escaped in 2006.

Marvin, who disappeared after saying goodbye to his carers at a youth shelter early on 11 June 2017, is currently in psychiatric care.

“I want to visit him for Christmas, to celebrate a little with him,” his mother Manuela B., 53, told Germany’s best-selling tabloid Bild.

A police spokesman on Monday said the decision on when Marvin can go home “is up to the doctors, not the police.”