Incest monster Josef Fritzl could walk free from prison next year - and expects 'cheering crowds' to greet him
12 February 2025, 19:43
Josef Fritzl is preparing a bid to be paroled - and lawyers for the incestuous rapist believe he will be set free next year.
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The Austrian, 89, was jailed for holding his own daughter Elisabeth captive in his cellar for over 20 years and raping her repeatedly, resulting in the birth of seven children, one of whom died as a baby.
Fritzl was given life in prison in 2009 but with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
His legal team believe that he stands a good chance of getting out because he is old and in poor health, meaning he no longer poses a threat.
As well as regaining his freedom, the rapist also wants to live close to his own neighbourhood in the small town of Amstetten.
Fritzl will need to be cared for given his age, his lawyer said - but after his crimes were revealed none of his relatives and former friends are likely to volunteer to help.
"We will start an action in March and call for parole and if the court rejects it we will appeal and given his condition I believe he will be released by next year," his lawyer Astrid Wagner told the Mirror.
"He wants to live close to where he previously did and he wants to live alone but I think that is very unlikely given his age and condition.
"He would need a carer and none of his friends or family want to know."
Fritzl is now suffering from dementia and has delusions about people celebrating his release.
Ms Wagner said: "He believes that when he is released, he will come out to a big celebration with people cheering and music and wanting to shake his hand
"This is obviously not the case. It is a fantasy. I don't think he fully understands what the world really thinks. Every time I see him, he says he regrets his decisions every day. He has ruined his life. He always talks about his regrets about his crimes.
"He thinks he has friends on the outside, but he hasn't. One thing he accepts is that his family no longer want to see him and respects that."
Fritzl’s crimes involved rape, coercion and imprisonment, keeping his daughter and her children trapped in a basement for years as he raped her thousands of times.
Elisabeth was abused from the age of 11, and was locked in the cellar from the age of 18 until she was 42.
Fritzl previously said that he wanted to move to the UK after his release.
"Above all I want to roam free on the wild Highlands of Scotland,” he said.
"For me the lush green fields of Wales are also very, very appealing, but the main thing is it’s to the United Kingdom I am headed."
