woman held as sex slave for eight years speaks about her ordeal 10 years on

Ten years after escaping from a house where she was repeatedly raped and abused, Natascha Kampusch has revealed she now lives there.

When the then 18-year-old escaped from the clutches of Wolfgang Priklopil, it became global news.

Ms Kampusch was trapped in the house in Strasshof, Vienna for eight and a half years before escaping while Priklopil was distracted.

After being snatched as she walked to school in March 1998, she was held in a purpose-built cellar, and was beaten, starved and turned into Priklopil’s sex slave.

A decade on from her escape, she has spoken about her ordeal, telling German newspaper Bild that she now spends her weekends at Priklopil’s former home.

She was held in a hidden room accessed via this door in the garage

Her captor was killed by a train on the day she escaped, but mystery continues to surround the death.

Speaking about her escape, Ms Kampusch said Priklopil, 44, received a call and was distracted.

She said: ‘Previously he has observed me all the time. But because of the vacuum cleaner whirring in my hand he had to walk a few steps away to better understand his caller.

‘I crept to the gate which was usually closed or blocked by heavy objects, but not on this day.

‘I could hardly breathe. I felt solidified, as if my arms and legs were paralyzed.

She ran, eventually stopping to knock on a window where she whispered ‘please help me’ to the woman inside.

The woman called the police, but Ms Kampusch said she has never spoken to her since.

She received Priklopil’s house and car in his estate, and has written a new book called Ten Years of Freedom – but psychologists have said she should move on from her past.

She was subjected to years of psychological and physical abuse

However, she has found it difficult and remains confused and awkward in social situations, despite earning about £5 million from interviews, her book and a movie.

Coroners are reinvestigating the alleged suicide of Priklopil, after case files determined that he might have been murdered.