Cellar mum plans to sue Josef Fritzl

Elisabeth Fritzl - the Austrian girl who was held captive by her father in a cellar for 24 years - is planning to sue her monster dad Josef for his fortune, her lawyer has revealed.

London, May 21 : Elisabeth Fritzl - the Austrian girl who was held captive by her father in a cellar for 24 years - is planning to sue her monster dad Josef for his fortune, her lawyer has revealed.

Solicitor Christoph Herbst revealed plans for a legal battle are being discussed as it emerged that therapy for Fritzl's incest victims will cost more than 780,000 pounds.

Elisabeth and her six children fathered by vile Josef could also get new identities.

But the family must remain in a clinic for three months as doctors help them get over the dungeon ordeal, said Herbst.

Speaking in a new TV documentary, Herbst told of his admiration for Elisabeth, 42, who gave sons Stefan, 18, and Felix, five, a normal education as they spent their entire lives underground.

And he revealed the irony of how the other three children chosen to live upstairs with monster Fritzl are now like prisoners at the same clinic, unable to go to school or see their friends in Amstetten, Austria.

"We have discussed if we want to do something against the father or sue him for damages. This is a decision that has to be taken by Elisabeth," The Sun quoted Herbst, as saying.

Elisabeth - whose cellar daughter Kerstin, 19, is still seriously ill - has been reunited with her "upstairs" children Lisa, 15, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12, who lived with Fritzl, 72, and wife Rosemarie, 69.

Herbst said: "They have to decide together with the doctors and the therapists where they will live and who lives together in future, and if they change identity."

The lawyer said he was stunned by how quickly Elisabeth bonded with her "upstairs" children.

He said: "Something which is really amazing is that Elisabeth gets along very well with the three children who lived with the grandmother. And the kids really welcomed their mother very, very warmly. This is something that everybody is surprised about."

ANI