Six children born in Britain found with man and wife in abandoned wine cellar

A man was discovered living in an abandoned wine cellar in Austria with his wife and six small children, who were born in Britain and are all under five years old.

The 54-year-old is being investigated after attacking social services with pepper spray and resisting state authority outside the underground illegal hideout in the small village of Orbritz.

After fleeing the unnamed man, who was linked by local media to conspiracy theorist groups, and those rejecting the Austrian state, the social workers called the police.

The man, reported to be Austrian but working in Britain, barricaded himself in the cellars, which it was reported he had bought from an English company.

After police broke in and arrested the man they found firearms in the cellar, where the family of eight was living.

Family lived in cellar for 'several months'

He was released on Thursday evening after prosecutors said he posed no risk to the children. Police are checking whether the guns are legally owned.

The cellars had been renovated to make them more comfortable, with surveillance cameras installed, but local authorities said the sanitation was inadequate and they were not suitable for children.

It is not clear how long the man, his 40-year-old wife and the children, aged between seven months and five years old, had lived there, but there were doors, windows, water and electricity.

Police said they believed the family had been living in the cellars for several months. There had been complaints about the family over the last few weeks.

"The surveillance cameras in front of the cellar were particularly annoying, and residents sometimes heard children's voices in the basement, and as soon as they approached it was quiet," deputy mayor Erich Greil told local media.

He said the man, who he described as “normal” and “clever”, had bought up to five cellars in the village.

"He once told me he has ten children and he wants a cellar for each child,” Mr Greil said. “The contracts are up to the municipality. However, the cellars may not be used for residential purposes."

Fears over repeat of Josef Fritzl case

The youth welfare officers got involved after the children’s voices were heard near the cellars to ensure there was not a repeat of the Josef Fritzl case.

Fritzl, an Austrian, held his daughter captive in a basement dungeon for 24 years, where she had seven of his children.

Police sources told The Telegraph there was no suggestion of any sexual abuse of the children found in the cellar in the Lower Austrian village of fewer than 500 people.

Hollabrunn District Governor Karl-Josef Weiss said the children were neither locked up nor neglected. They were examined at hospital in the presence of their mother.

The children were taken into care after they were discovered because it proved difficult to prove who they were.

Births in Austria are registered by law with the authorities but there were no records for the children.

The parents said this was because they were born in England. It is unclear if they have British citizenship and establishing their identity has so far proved difficult.

Police sources played down local media reports that the man had links to the “Reichsburger” movement after it was reported he was part of the “Right-wing scene”.

There is a small Reichsburger movement in Austria, which believes the state has been co-opted by big business and is not legitimate.

Reichsburgers in Germany were arrested after plotting a far-fetched coup to reinstate the German monarchy last year.