Latest from Amstetten 2

Fritzl has complained that he has been portrayed as a monster! He said he isn't a monster, as he could have killed his family and noone would have been any the wiser. What's he expecting? A thank you?

His lawyer wants him to plead insanity, but apparently that's going to be difficult to prove. The prison authorities say there is absolutely no evidence of insanity at all. Fritzl is said to be very cooperative. The victims won't be interviewed for a while yet.

The house is still being investigated. They have found rooms above ground that apparently noone dared to go into as Fritzl told them not to (he was extremely dominant) and that is where he organised everything for the cellar. (That is, the plans of the cellar, storage, etc)

I bet if you asked his 42 year old daughter whether he was a monster she would reply in the positive. It takes a certain kind of monster to hold his 18 year old daughter captive for 24 years in a cellar and rape her repeatedly and have 6 children with her. Then to top it all choose 3 of those children to live with him above stairs and leave the other three to suffer the same fate as their mother. Sometimes there are worse things than death IMO.

he didn't do even worse things than he already did, doesn't mean he's not a monster! I agree with Our 'Ell. There are worse things than death. Fritzl thinks he was being kind by letting his dying daughter go to hospital!!! What does he think he should get for that? Some award!?

By Thomas Hochwarter in Vienna guardian.co.uk, Thursday May 29 2008

Local authorities in the Austrian town of Amstetten, tiring of the antics of British photographers trying to get pictures of the Fritzl family, are threatening to make a formal complaint to the UK's press regulator.

More than 20 photographers have been caught trying to sneak into Amstetten-Mauer psychiatric clinic, where Elisabeth Fritzl and her family are receiving treatment, in a bid to get the first exclusive picture, according to local police and hospital officials.

The story of Elisabeth Fritzl, who was locked in a secret cellar dungeon and repeatedly raped by her father, Josef, over 24 years, having seven children by him during that period, has resulted in hundreds of media organisations sending staff to Amstetten.

Heinz Lenze, a senior Amstetten local authority official, said he had now instructed police to take down the personal details of all photographers caught trying to get into the clinic and where possible to make a complaint to the relevant press regulation bodies.

Lenze said British photographers were being singled out because they were the main perpetrators, although journalists from other countries have also been stopped from trying to gain entry to the clinic.

He added that he was looking into making a formal complaint about the activities of UK photo-journalists to the Press Complaints Commmission.

"We have been in touch with the Press Complaints Commission who have said they can accept complaints about British journalists operating abroad, and that sneaking into hospital dressed as cleaners or policemen would definitely fit in their remit," Lenze said.

"From now on, names will be passed on as soon as we have them," he added.

The director of the Amstetten-Mauer psychiatric clinic has made appeals for the family's right to privacy to be respected - but so far with little success as photographers are still being caught trying to gain access to the hospital.

Until now, police or private security guards have not been taking the names of the photographers escorted from the grounds of the clinic.

They include one who had dug a hole in the ground, stocked it with provisions and covered himself with a bird watcher's hide.

.....if they are contributing to any further suffering that this family are going through - as if they have not suffered enough. What sort of world do we live in when it appears that the cost, in monetary terms, of a photograph, can be placed ahead of the continued safety and well being of such a vulnerable family who are only in the early stages of any recovery they may make?

I hope they can take out restraining orders against the individuals that are attempting to apply further pressure on to an already traumatised family, who clearly need their privacy.