Fritzl's daughter, Elisabeth, told police her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11 and he locked her up in a room in the cellar on August 28, 1984. Now aged 42, Elisabeth was found after a tip-off to police. Police said Elisabeth only agreed to talk after the authorities promised she would not have to have see her father again and the children would be taken care of.

During her 24 years in captivity, she said she had six children by him. The seventh child was a twin who died shortly after birth. Josef Fritzl removed the body and burned it. The two oldest children, aged 18 and 19, and the youngest aged 5, had been locked up with their mother since birth and had never seen sunlight or received any education, police said.

Josef's wife Rosemarie had no idea what was going on. Three of Elisabeth's younger children were left on her parents' doorstep, the first accompanied by a letter saying she could not look after the baby herself. All were taken in by Josef and his wife as foster or adopted children and went to school as normal.

The mother and children are now being treated in hospital by a team of psychologists.

What do you think about this story? What should happen to the father? How will Elisabeth and her children come through it? Comment below.

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