Incest suspect says he wanted family

AMSTETTEN, Austria, May 8 (UPI) -- The Austrian man who allegedly kept his daughter imprisoned for 24 years and fathered seven children by her said he obsessed with having a family with her.

Josef Fritzl, who reportedly confessed the incest to police, spoke to an Austrian magazine about why he kept his daughter, Elisabeth, locked in a specially designed cellar beneath his Amstetten house, sexually assaulting her for years, The Times of London reported Thursday.

"I knew that Elisabeth did not want the things I did to her. I knew that I was hurting her," Fritzl told the magazine through his lawyer, The Times said.

He told the magazine he wanted a family with her because she was "a great housewife and mother."

He said he was looking forward to having children with her. Authorities found three children with Elisabeth in the cellar and three others living in Fritzl's house. One child died as an infant.

He said he thought about releasing Elisabeth but "I was afraid of being arrested and of having my family and everyone out there find out about my crime."

Fritzl said he controlled the urge to have sex with his mother since childhood, The Times said.