Josef Fritzl's eerie home where daughter was held as sex slave under wife's nose
Josef Fritzl, who has been granted conditional release from prison for the mentally ill, used the unusual layout of his 'horror house' to imprison his daughter Elisabeth.
Nowadays, however, the ordinary looking family home where Fritzl kept his dark secrets concealed for decades, looks very different.
Fritzl, now 88, was spotted arriving by car at Landesgericht District Court at 7.20am UK time to attend a hearing - the first sighting of him outside prison walls for 15 years. The incest monster, was jailed for life in 2009 after locking Elisabeth in his basement lair for 24 years. During her captivity, Fritzl raped his daughter repeatedly, forcibly fathering seven children with her.
Joseph Fritzl held his daughter captive from the age of 18 (Getty Images)The now frail Fritzl, who suffers with Alzheimer's disease, will moved to a regular prison before he's considered eligible for release in March. As of yet, however, this decision isn't legally binding.
As the news of Fritzl's hearing unfolds, we take a look at his old home in the city of Amstetten, Austria, which has since been transformed into nine separate apartments.
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The basement has since been filled in with concrete (MDM)Landlords Herbert and Ingrid Houska bought 40 Ybbsstrasse from Fritzl's bankruptcy estate for around £160,000 in 2016, after plans to turn it into a horror museum fell through. They previously shared: "All nine apartments are rented out. There are young people among them who have no connection to the Fritzl case."
Taking care to remove reminders of the property's grim history, Herbert and Ingrid have had the basement dungeon filled in with concrete. The garage entrance, through which Fritzl accessed his makeshift underground prison, has also been bricked up. After renovation, the apartments appear to be bright, modern, and with plenty of natural light - a far cry from the conditions in which Elisabeth and her children were once kept. The house now even boasts a rooftop terrace and garden.
The flats appear to be bright and modern (MDM)Fritzl began work enlarging his basement into a cell in around 1982, at which point he installed a washbasin, toilet, bed and a refrigerator. The beast even tricked Elisabeth into helping construct the cramped space that would one day become her prison.
After finishing the building work, on August 28, 1984, Fritzl forced Elisabeth to help him drag a 300kg concrete and steel door down to the basement and fit it. He then drugged her and threw her inside. From that day on, Elisabeth, who was just 18 years old at the time, was kept away from the outside world for the next 24 years.
The property now even boasts a rooftop terrace (MDM)Elisabeth gave birth to seven children during her time in captivity. One baby, who died at birth after suffering breathing difficulties, was callously tossed into a furnace by Fritzl. Three of the children were brought up in the cellar with their mother, while the other three others were raised upstairs by Fritzl and his wife, after being 'discovered' on their doorstep.
During his 2009 trial, evil Fritzl pleaded guilty to rape, false imprisonment, manslaughter by negligence and incest. Elisabeth has since changed her name and has been given support from the authorities in protecting both her identity and her children's wellbeing. She has never spoken out publicly about her harrowing ordeal.
Elisabeth was tricked into helping build her own dungeon (Newsflash)
She was locked away for 24 years (Newsflash)Following today's hearing, Fritzl's attorney, Astrid Wagner, said: "We were successful. It was a long hearing. He told again how he regrets what he did. He was actually close to tears. In summary, the court came to the conclusion that my client is actually no longer dangerous."
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