Josef Fritzl has reportedly said he would like to live in Britain when he is released from prison to ‘wander freely in the Scottish Highlands’.
The 88-year-old has been imprisoned since 2009 after holding his daughter Elisabeth captive in his basement in the Austrian city of Amstetten for 24 years between 1984 and 2008, raping her thousands of times and fathering her seven children.
Fritzl can now apply for release and said he dreamed of moving to Britain after watching a documentary about Shakespeare that revealed Britain’s “spectacular landscape”, the Sun reports.
He said the documentary had inspired him and he knew he wanted to ’emigrate to Britain’ rather than stay in his native Austria.
‘I especially want to roam freely in the wild Highlands of Scotland. For me, the lush green fields of Wales are also very attractive,” Fritzl added, reiterating that he was “on his way” to Britain if released.
Josef Fritzl was released on parole from a prison for the mentally ill by an Austrian court in January, shortly after he was photographed outside prison for the first time in 15 years
Elisabeth Fritzl (pictured as a schoolgirl), now 56, was held captive by her father Josef in the basement of the family’s Austrian home from 1984 to 2008
Josef Fritzl is seen during day four of his trial at the St. Poelten Land Court in 2009
Even if he were released, Fritzl would have to say goodbye to his dream of living in Britain as the Home Office would refuse him entry due to his long prison sentence, according to guidelines on the grounds for refusal relating to crime.
A court in the town of Krems an der Donau had ordered in January that Fritzl be transferred from a psychiatric ward to a regular prison after being told he was “no longer in danger of reoffending”, but the decision has since been reversed.
His daughter Elisabeth, who is now 56 and has been given a new identity, previously said she hopes her evil father will be punished “until death” for his crimes.
Fritzl’s trial heard how he raped her 3,000 times in the rat-infested basement and how he hit and kicked her and eventually had seven children with her.
The mother lived downstairs in the flat with her children: Kerstin born in 1988, Stefan (1990) and Felix (2002).
Meanwhile, Lisa (1992), Monica (1994) and Alexander (1996) grew up on the top floor of the house Fritzl shared with his wife Rosemarie in sleepy Amstetten in central Austria, 78 kilometers from Linz.
Another son, named Michel, tragically died shortly after birth from neglect.
During the trial against her father, Elisabeth said through her lawyer Eva Plaz that she hopes he is never released.
“She wants the defendant to be held responsible until death,” Ms. Plaz said.
Earlier, the lawyer had told the court: ‘The suspect has made himself the master of life and death. He must be punished for this.’
Fritzl, who has now changed his name to one that has not been made public, has been in prison since his conviction in 2009 for incest, rape, slavery, coercion and murder due to neglect of his newborn son.
Fritzl, 88, is being held in Sankt Poelten prison and is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease
Elisabeth lived with her children in this filthy, cramped basement for 24 years
Josef Fritzl during a four-week vacation in Pataya, Thailand, from January 1, 1998 to February 3, 1998
MailOnline reported that Elisabeth has built a new life with her bodyguard husband in an isolated house on the river, just half an hour from the dungeon where she was held captive for 24 years, while living opposite her eldest daughter Kerstin.
This comes after Fritzl wrote an apology letter earlier this year in which he claims to be a ‘good father’.
‘I deeply regret all my actions. Kind regards, Fritzl,” the incestuous rapist wrote.
“I was actually a good father,” he claimed, saying that he saved money for the “children’s education,” visited them often, helped with chores and even let them learn instruments “and so on.”