U.S.-German couple jailed in Spain for locking children at home for more than 3 years

A courthouse is shown in an undated photo. (Pexels / Brett Sayles)

MADRID -- A U.S.-German couple was sentenced to nearly three years in prison in Spain on Monday for keeping their three children locked at home for three-and-a-half years, after developing a fear of the outside world following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The father and mother were both found guilty of family abandonment and causing psychological harm, but were cleared of more stringent charges of unlawful detention. Prosecutors had sought 25 years in prison.

Both parents are German citizens, while the mother is also a citizen of the United States. They have not been publicly identified to protect the identities of their children: nine-year-old twins and an 11-year-old.

The parents were ordered to pay compensation of 30,000 euros (US$32,000) to each child and stripped of custody of them for at least three years and four months.

Police arrested the couple in April 2025 after discovering the children had been living for several years in inadequate sanitary conditions in a house on the outskirts of the northern city of Oviedo, without attending school.

Javier Muñoz, the lawyer for the mother, said the children were home schooled, had “a stable family life” and were well fed.

Muñoz said the couple, who have been held in preventive custody since their arrest, were “moderately satisfied” with the sentence, but were still considering appealing the ruling.

Reporting by Javi West Larrañaga; Editing by Peter Graff, Reuters