A 39-year-old man who had been put inside a cage by his parents who thought he is possessed by a ghost, has been released after he was recently filmed by concerned neighbours with his hand grasping through the bars of his cage – and the footage sent to medical professionals, who arranged for him to be freed.

It was gathered that his parents didn’t understand his mental health condition and even tried an exorcism to cast out the evil spirit from him.

But when he returned after the “deliverance session,” they found he was acting strangely and they decided to lock him away. He was last let out for exercise several years ago. He was then aged nine years old.

His mum, Li Lianying, admitted that it was she and her husband who “reluctantly” put him inside the cage more than 30 years ago.

Since the 1980s, their son, who has not been identified, lived alone in a dark and damp cage in Hepu County’s Gongguan Township, in south China.

Mrs. Lianying explained it all started when the boy was just six years old. He went missing and was found by local villagers, who claimed to have performed an exorcism on him.

He was returned to his parents, but they said from that day, he had acted strangely, leading them to believe he had been possessed by a ghost.

“He would run around aimlessly on the street and only learnt how to say ‘mum’ at the age of 12,” his mother said.

Without consulting medical experts, she and her husband decided to lock the young boy away, providing him with food and water through the metal bars. She added that she had last let her son out for a walk several years ago.

The son, it was gathered, has been taken to hospital for treatment and was found to be extremely malnourished.

He has very limited vocabulary made up of incoherent screams and is unable to communicate. It is not clear if his parents will be charged with abuse.