Woman locked in filthy bedroom dungeon for 18 YEARS after having a baby out of wedlock

Maria Monaco, 47, was found huddled in the corner of her bedroom living in a state of squalor surrounded by filth and excrement.

Maria was found by police at Santa Maria Capua Vetere, a small town just outside Naples, Italy, after an anonymous tip-off and last night her brother and sister were in custody accused of detaining her.

Police point at the filthy bed in the room where Maria Monaco was kept prisoner

Footage on Italian TV showed a squalid stained single mattress in her bedroom with dirt and grime on the floor and walls and the bathroom she used was covered in filth.

Police said that Maria, whom they say was suffering from psychological problems, was kept a prisoner shortly after falling pregnant with her child - now a 17-year-old student.

The adjoining bathroom was squalid and covered in excrement

Her mother Anna Rosa Golino, 80, brother Prisco, 44, a farmer and sister Michelina, 54, a primary school teacher took action after she had an affair with a mystery man and got pregnant.

Captain Carmine Rosciano, of Santa Maria Capua Vetere police, said: 'We received an anonymous tip-off that a woman was being held and we raided the family home in rural land on the outskirts of the town.

'Maria was found in her locked bedroom in a confused state and surrounded with filth and excrement  - she was living in squalor.'

Ms Monaco's mother Annarosa Golino and her siblings Michelina and Prisco Monaco kept her prisoner to punish her for having a baby out of wedlock

Ms Monaco was kept inside the family's house in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, southern Italy

Last night Maria was in hospital in Naples being treated for her trauma while her mother was bailed but her brother and sister kept in custody.

Police were also questioning Maria's 17-year-old son whom they said was living with his grandmother and 'fully aware of the situation'. Attempts were also being made to track the father of the boy who police refused to name but they said it was proving difficult to question Maria.

Josef Fritzl kept his daughter Elisabeth prisoner in the basement of their family home in Amstetten, Austria for 24 years

The case was alarmingly similar to that of Austrian man Josef Fritzl who kept his family locked in an underground dungeon for 24 years before being discovered earlier this year.

The 73-year-old lured his daugher Elisabeth into the cellar under their house when she was 18. He raped her repeatedly and fathered her seven children,one of which died.

In public Mr Fritzl appeared to be a regular man and a pillar of thecommunity, living in Amstetten with his wife Rosemarie, with whom he had seven grown-up children.

Mr Fritzl remains in police custody. He has not yet been charged. Police say he has confessed to the crimes and that there is DNA evidence to support this.