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Four abandoned children rescued after one year in Berlin flat

Berlin - Police have rescued four abandoned children who spent one year struggling to run their Berlin household alone after their mother moved away to her lover.

The eldest, 12, phoned youth-aid officials in desperation, saying he was just too young to cook, clean the apartment and manage his siblings aged 11, 9 and 8, police said Friday.

The boy had hesitated to seek help because he was so embarrassed at the clutter and filth in their home.

The mother, 46, may face charges of failing to care for and control her children since last summer. The school-children, who said she had been living almost permanently at her lover's home, have been placed in foster care.

Shocked police found cobwebs on the furniture in the four-room apartment, a dish of rotting muck crawling with flies in the refrigerator, floors littered with crumbs and dirty clothing and a filth-smeared toilet.

One room was so full of litter that the door could barely be opened. Police said the children appeared to have stopped preparing meals in the kitchen months ago and there were spiders even among the dirty dishes.

The children had lived off fast food of low nutritional value bought with money given them by the mother.