Josef Fritzl is a “monster” who would never be allowed into the
UK to realise his dream, says the Home Secretary. James Cleverly adamantly said that any attempt by the Austrian sex offender to come to the UK would be refused. Fritzl had talked of his desire to “roam free” in the Scottish Highlands if he was released from jail. Fritzl, who is now 88 and has dementia, was caged in 2009 for holding his daughter Elisabeth captive for 24 years in the cellar of his home in Amstetten, about 80 miles west of the Austrian capital Vienna. Over the years, he repeatedly raped his own daughter and fathered seven children with her. He was sentenced to life behind bars without the possibility for parole for 15 years and is currently being held in Stein Prison. Fritzl was ruled to no longer be a threat to public safety, according to the latest psychiatric report, and he has said he wanted to emigrate to the UK when he was released. As well as the “wild Highlands” he also talked of the “lush green fields of Wales”. Incest monster Josef Fritzl reveals he wants to move to the UK if he's released from
prison Home Secretary James Cleverly says Fritzl won't be moving to the UK any time soon ( Image: Peter Summers) But Mr Cleverly quashed his hopes, writing on X: "This monster is never coming to our country. Any attempt to travel to the UK will be refused - as it would be for anyone convicted of serious sex offences like this." UK guidelines, introduced in January, 2021, state a foreign national would “normally” be denied a visa if they have committed a criminal offence that has led to a sentence of 12 months or more in jail. On his hopes of coming to the UK Fritzl, according to The Sun , had said: "I was filled with this wonderful, uplifting feeling, this sense of inspiration for this fantastic culture. And it was then I knew that when I get released, it is not Austria I want to stay [in], rather I want to emigrate to the UK. Above all I want to roam free on the wild Highlands of
Scotland ." He added: "For me the lush green fields of Wales are also very, very appealing. But the main thing is it's to the
United Kingdom I am headed.” A regional court in Austria approved Fritzl's application to be moved to a regular prison in January, but this was later overturned. A fresh decision about the transfer is due next month after the lower court establishes more facts about the case. Fritzl kept Elisabeth as a sex slave in his house of horrors when she was between the age of 18 and 42. His sickening crimes were revealed when he took one of the children, born as a result of incest, to hospital due to a life-threatening illness. The sex fiend then brought Elisabeth and two of her children upstairs and told his wife that she had returned home after falsely claiming she had been elsewhere for decades. Both Fritzl and Elisabeth were taken into
police custody in April 2008 when the gruesome extent of his crimes were revealed.