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 05 July 2008 13:50 BST

Father 'confesses' over Austrian cellar horror

Monday, 28 Apr 2008 20:39
73-year-old Austrian man 'confesses' to keeping daughter captive in cellar for 24 years and reportedly raping her
A 73-year-old Austrian man has reportedly confessed to keeping his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and repeatedly raping her.

According to police the man, Josef Fritzl, has admitted to fathering seven children with his daughter Elisabeth, now 42.

She is currently in the care of the authorities after being released by her father when her teenage daughter was admitted to hospital.

Mr Fritzl decided to release his daughter and admit police into his home's cellar in Amstetten, Lower Austria, when medical staff appealed for the ill girl's mother to come forward.

Three of Elisabeth's children lived with her in the cellar, police have said, while three were adopted by other families and one died as a baby.

Click here to see pictures of Elizabeth Fritzl's cellar prison

In his confession on Monday morning Mr Fritzl also told detectives he burned the dead baby inside the house.

DNA tests are expected to confirm later this week that he is the father of Elisabeth's children.

Detectives have said the cellar where the woman was held since 1984 was narrow with a number of rooms.

"There is not only one, but a number of rooms: one room to sleep in, one to cook, and there are also sanitation facilities," said Frank Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian bureau of criminal affairs.

"Everything is very, very narrow and the victim herself, the mother of these six or seven children, told us that this was being continually enlarged over the years."

Speaking at a news conference later on Monday, Mr Polzer said police may be investigating Austria's most shocking crime.

"You have to put yourself into the situation of [the victims]," he told journalists.

"They led a completely different life to ours, they do not know what we know. These children were born into the jail, they knew nothing else."

The case has reminded Austrians of Natasha Kampusch, who escaped in 2006 after spending eight years held captive in a Vienna suburb.End of story


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