London police are investigating a shocking case in which it’s alleged a 10-year-old boy had been locked in a bedroom in a London home for up to two years.

Police say they were contacted by the Children’s Aid Society of London and Middlesex to check on the welfare of a child on Thursday after a tip was called in.

After entering the home, police found the boy allegedly locked in a filthy bedroom. He was taken to hospital and was suffering from malnutrition and he was underweight. The child has been released from hospital and is in the care of children’s aid.

Det. Insp Kevin Heslop called the case "horrific" and say the boy was nervous when found.

Heslop says the boy is now physically fine. “Certainly, there are psychological impacts that will be longer term, I expect, and we’re trying to provide him with the supports that we can to get him through that.”

There is outrage across the city about what happened. "I didn't know there was a little boy living there. They seemed just like quiet neghbours," a neighbour says.

"It is like totally shocking. Totally amazingly shocking, how one person or several people can do that to another individual, especially a child, is beyond belief," says Joan Brennan.

Police say the boy was contained in the master bedroom, which had an ensuite including a toilet and shower, between 18 and 24 months.

The child is the nephew of the homeowners and they were his guardians.

The couple also has a biological child. That child was also taken into care but police do not believe that child had ever been locked in a room in the house.

The CAS had brief contact with the family involving an older child who is no longer in the home, at another location, in 2007.

In the current case, A CAS worker went to the southeast London home and found nobody home, but saw a shadow behind a drape. The worker contacted police.

Local CAS executive director Jane Fitzgerald says after being rescued the boy was asked if there was anything he wanted. His reply: He wants to go to school. "I think that's a good sign," Fitzgerald says.

Andrea Nair of the Core Family Health Centre is a parenting expert and a mother.

"I actually started crying. We hear about these stories that are far away, but when they happen in our backyard - and as a parent of boys - it really pushed on a lot of emotional buttons."

Nair says the boy will surely need counselling.

Police continue to investigate, including looking at computers that were in the home.