Josef Fritzl, the man who incarcerated his daughter beneath the family home for 24 years, has issued a frank confession from his prison cell, in which he said that he was driven by an "addiction" which "got out of control".
Fritzl, 73, said: "I knew the whole time that what I was doing was not right." The Austrian pensioner made the statement in notes to his lawyer Rudolf Mayer. He also admitted to repeatedly raping his daughter Elisabeth, now 42, on visits to her windowless prison.
"It was like an addiction," he said. He admitted drugging her and taking her to the cellar. "I knew that Elisabeth didn't like it. But the pressure to do what was forbidden was just too strong within me", he said.
Fritzl's lawyer said his client should have psychiatric tests to evaluate whether he is fit to stand trial.
