A man who displayed signs of mental health problems as a teenager has been locked up by his parents for 30 years.

Dong Hai,46, was caged in a five square metre stone shelter in his parent’s back yard when they grew frightened that he could hurt someone.

Dong Watou and his wife Xiao Hong from Longhai, southeast China’s Fujian Province said they had appealed to hospitals for help when their only son grew distressed and they feared for his mental health.

The Chinese couple looked for help and tried to get their son treatment when he displayed symptoms of mental health problems, but they were turned away by local hospitals

They visited hospitals in the province but were turned away. The couple spent all their savings on medical treatment in a year and had to stop their son’s treatment.

As time goes on the couple, who are now nearly 70 years old, say their greatest fear is what will happen to Hai when they die.

The couple’s house is no different from others in the village, except the stone shelter in the yard. Hai hasn’t stepped outside the bare hut for the past 30 years

Food is passed to him through a hole in the wall and each day Hai’s father uses a scoop, which is tied on top of a long bamboo pole, to shovel out excrement.

Read more: Daily Mail