is on the other foot. In Fritzl's cellar he was the one in control. Fritzl admitted to Mayer: "The cellar in my building belonged to me and me alone - it was my kingdom, that only I had access to."

In his cellar world, Fritzl was not only in complete control but he could wreak revenge on the mother who imprisoned him in his childhood by his repeated attacks against his daughter which he also admits he was addicted to.

He could play the part of the mother who tortured and emotionally raped her child and he could also become, in his fantasy, his mother's partner and have babies with her, triumphing over his need for a father.

Fritzl claims that his sexual relations with his daughter were consensual, despite her testimony that she was chained to a wall. The act of raping his daughter was addictive not only in the omnipotent excitement it gave Fritzl but it also provided a way for him to discharge his hatred towards his mother while at the same time keeping the relationship alive.

Better a hateful relationship than no relationship at all. Fritzl had constructed a fantasy life that in many respects replicated his childhood but was also a denial and a triumph over the reality of his childhood.

Just as in his past there had been no father to protect him from his mother's hatred, in the cellar there was no metaphorical father, no super-ego within Fritzl to protect him or his daughter and children from their imprisonment in a world of hate.

As long as Fritzl could perpetuate the sado-masochistic world of his childhood in the cellar, he was safe from having to face the grim reality of a hateful mother and an indifferent father - a reality that might have tipped him over into psychosis.

Fritzl allegedly thought it was a "lovely idea" to have a family in the cellar. And for Fritzl it was just this - by keeping his fantasy family in the cellar he could keep his madness locked up and safely contained in the confines of his unconscious. His remorse and his concern are most probably genuine for what happened to his daughter and the children he sired with her (including one baby who died after he refused to call for medical help).

Fritzl has previous. He was convicted of raping a woman in Linz in 1967

At the same time, he needed to use his daughter in creating this fantasy world so as not to go completely mad. At an unconscious level, it seems that the rest of the family upstairs may have been complicit in keeping Fritzl's madness below ground in their denial of what was going on.

Rosemary, Fritzl's wife, does not seem to have questioned either her daughter's disappearance, running off to join an extremist sect, or the appearance of grandchildren that suddenly turned up for adoption.

Fritzl's criminal behaviour has a history. He had been convicted of raping a woman in Linz in 1967 and served a term in prison for this. This seems to indicate that he had little control over his impulses and may well have been anxious that this could happen again.

"Around 1981 or 1982", as Fritzl admitted, he started preparing his cellar for its first occupant. In 1984 Elisabeth disappeared. At his trial, after his face emerged from hiding behind that blue folder, Fritzl remained expressionless to the public except for an occasional smile - perhaps at his own triumph in achieving 24 years of outwitting reality.