Cupboard girl tells of four-year terror ordeal

Cupboard girl Natasha Ryan has sensationally spoken for the fifth time about her FOUR year crockery ordeal.

The now 18-year-old SANE girl spent an unbelievable 1,682 days without EVER seeing daylight after her parents told her not to see her milkman boyfriend Scott Dark, 22, in 1998.

Rather than capitulate to her parents' demands, plucky Natasha made her parents believe she was DEAD and HID in her boyfriend's HOUSE, later even watching the reports of a man charged with her murder on the TV.

It was only when a relative became suspicious however that her secret was uncovered. "Every time someone came round to the house, I just hid in the cupboard," Natasha explained calmly. "It seemed the most normal thing to do. Plus I could get on with some washing-up while they were busy talking and eating and all that stuff."

Incredibly, boyfriend Scott would secretly pass his sweetheart dirty plates from meals with friends while she hid under the sink. "I had made a little hole in the pipe from the sink so Scott would leave the hot water running and it would drip on the plates where I cleaned them using my hair and some Fairy Liquid," Natasha revealed.

However, if one of the guests turned the tap off, Natasha had an ingenious method of getting through the household chores. "I would use a combination of my spit and a touch of urine for stubborn stains," she told us.

There was little spare space in the cupboard however, and if Scott's friends had a starter as well, Natasha would herself sitting on top of piles of crockery with her head bent to squeeze in. "There were tough times," she reveals, "especially when 12 of Scott's friends came round. I thought I was going to run out of spit. When they left on Monday, I was completely dehydrated, so Scott thoughtfully let me drink his water of life topless."

There was difficult incidents too. "I remember the first cup I broke. I had stretched out my leg because of the cramp and I just struck it. It smashed and I cried and cried but as Scott pointed out I was wasting valuable water. So I stopped and just stabbed my arm with the broken crockery until I felt better."

But over time, Natasha's acidic waste products took their toll on the plates, cups, saucers, once beautiful kingfisher paintings began to fade and pale. "I suppose I learnt a valuable lesson in life there," Natasha comments. "Not everything can last, no matter how much you love it."

However on the fateful day 10 April 2003, when a policeman finally discovered Natasha in the cupboard, everything changed. "It was all because some man was going to be sentenced to death for my murder," explains Natasha. "If it wasn't for him, I'd still be happily in the cupboard. As it is now I have to go on an endless tour of chat shows and psychiatric hospitals."

Natasha's parents are delighted over the news however. "Well, we were stunned and amazed," said her mother last night. "We thought our little girl was dead." As for their decision to order their 14-year-old daughter back in the 90s not to see Mr Dark, both parents realised their mistake. "Well, the funny thing is we thought he was totally unsuitable and had far too much sway over her behaviour," said Mr Ryan. "But by persuading her to never to leave his house and hide for days at a time in the cupboard over four years, I think he has shown himself to be trustworthy. If only I'd realised my mistake earlier, maybe Natasha wouldn't be such a nut-job."

There is a plus to Natasha's new-found fame and fortune too. "Well, I'm getting paid a lot of money to tell my story," she told us as we wrote out her £5,000 cheque, "so Scott has promised me that next year he will buy me a really nice big cupboard with a light in and everything. I'm really excited."