Josef Fritzl sentenced to die in an asylum

JOSEF FRITZL, the Austrian who fathered seven children with his daughter while she was kept locked in a cellar, will spend the rest of his life in a mental institution.

The jury at his brief trial in the Austrian town of St Pölten found him guilty on charges of murder by neglect, rape, incest and imprisonment.

Fritzl, 73, told courtroom 119: "I accept the verdicts."

The jury's verdict was inevitable after Fritzl changed his plea to guilty on all the charges after viewing 11 hours of tapes of testimony by his daughter Elisabeth.

The 42-year-old was kept imprisoned for 24 years in the cellar of the family home.

Judge Andrea Humer decreed that her father would serve his life sentence in a secure psychiatric facility, as recommended by doctors, rather than a prison. It means Fritzl will die in captivity.

Today's verdicts came after the eight jurors — four men and four women — spent little more than two hours deliberating. The trial took less than four days to complete.

Fritzl will be moved tonight or early tomorrow morning to the mental hospital to begin his sentence.