Austrian 'admits daughter abuse'

The full extent of the ordeal suffered by Elisabeth and three of her children was illustrated when police released photographs of some of the rooms inside the dungeon-like cellar in Amstetten.

The entrance was via a 3ft x 2ft steel door, concealed behind a cupboard in an underground workshop, which could only be opened from the outside or via a remote control Fritzl kept on him whenever he visited his secret children.

A 73-year-old Austrian man has confessed to imprisoning his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathering her seven children, police have said.

The head of the criminal affairs bureau in the province of Lower Austria, Franz Polzer, told the BBC that "Josef F" had confessed during questioning on Monday.

Authorities are caring for the woman, now 42, and her six surviving children.

Police have released photos of the man's basement which showed a concealed network of tiny windowless chambers.

The rooms, covering an area of approximately 60 sq-metres, were equipped for sleeping and cooking, and with sanitary facilities.

"Everything was 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," a spokesman said.

Shock and disbelief

Mr Polzer told the BBC that Josef had admitted to sexually abusing his daughter, named only as Elisabeth F, repeatedly during the time he imprisoned her.

Josef Fritzl and Elizabeth Fritzl. Photograph: EPA

A 73-year-old Austrian today confessed to imprisoning his daughter in a windowless cellar for 24 years and fathering her seven children.

Josef Fritzl was believed to have lured his daughter Elisabeth into the basement of the family's home in Amstetten, north-west Austria, on August 24 1984.

He allegedly drugged and handcuffed her before locking her in the cellar.

Franz Pölzer, the head of the criminal investigations unit in the province of Lower Austria, said Fritzl had admitted abduction and incest.

"He has now said that he locked up his daughter for 24 years and that he alone fathered her seven children and that he locked them up in the cellar," he told Reuters.

Fritzl is expected to appear in court later today.