Police in Limburg have found the body of a man in a freezer, which had been put there by his son, 82, who ‘did not want to lose him’ 18 months ago. 

The discovery was made in the town of Landgraaf, local broadcaster 1Limburg said. 

The son told 1Limburg his father had died of natural causes at the age of 101. ‘I did not want to let him go or I would miss him,’ the son is quoted as saying. He then placed his father in the freezer so he could ‘continue to talk to him’. 

According to De Limburger local paper, the body was discovered after a warning by the family doctor who had become concerned about the father’s health.

Police are now trying to establish how the man died and when and whether or not fraud was involved. Local council officials who visited the house have described it as a ‘mess’ and the son has been given a week to clear it up. 

1Limburg points out that there was a similar situation in Limburg in 2015 when the body of a 91-year-old woman was found in the home she shared with her son. She had been dead for two years and the son was ordered to pay back the €40,000 in pension money that had been paid out in her name.