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06. 03. 09. - 13:00

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06. 03. 09. - 13:00

Creditors agree to let interview cash go to Elisabeth Fritzl

House of Horror victim Elisabeth Fritzl and her family are set to receive a massive cash windfall to help them start a new life after reaching an extraordinary agreement with her father's estate.

Elisabeth and her six children were about to be left with nothing after creditors moved in on her father's bankrupt estate.

Now she has secured a future for her children after her father Josef's legal team and creditors offered her the income from his last remaining asset - a TV interview.

Brave Elisabeth has resisted multi-million Euro offers for interviews and books about her 24 years locked in the cellar prison under the family home in the Lower Austrian town of Amstetten. But her courage has left her and her family broke after the collapse of the Fritzl family's estate into bankruptcy.

Her hopes of staking a claim on her father's estate of seven properties - once worth over two million Euros - as compensation for her ordeal were dashed when it was announced last month that he had been declared bankrupt, and liquidators had been called in to carve up his assets.

The sale of the properties will barely cover Fritzl's debts to local banks and the Austrian taxman - leaving nothing for Elisabeth and her children.

But in a show of solidarity with the Josef Fritzl's victims, officials handling the liquidation and creditors have agreed to allow him to carry out a single paid interview - on the condition that all the money goes to Elisabeth and her family.

The interview would take place after the trial but a visit to Fritzl's house - including the cellar prison - could take place in advance for broadcast rights after the verdict is announced. His other creditors have agreed not to take any money from the interview, and the firm handling the details of the contract, Central European News, has also agreed to waive any fee.

News Editor David Hill said: "If the banks can waive their share then it has to be possible for us as a news agency to also do this for nothing.

"We respect Elisabeth's wishes not to be forced to give up her right to privacy - and have the chance to rebuild her life without the need to sell her story to the media.

"She wants to be able to go out with her children without everybody pointing and knowing who she is."

"The court has already drawn up documents guaranteeing any money we make from selling this interview will go to Elisabeth and her family, and not a penny of it will go to Josef Fritzl.

"Under normal circumstances no respectable media organisation would pay a criminal for their story, especially one like Josef Fritzl, but given the very unusual circumstances here and the fact that every penny will be going directly to the victims as compensation - I'm hoping that we will have a lot of interest," he added.

Fritzl's reasons for carrying out the interview are not known but he has said he would be prepared to do it in either German or English - and has asked for the questions in advance.

To contact Central European News either email them on newsdesk(at)cen.at or call them on +43 1 812 12 87 19.

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