Josef Fritzl to submit new parole appeal as lawyers 'believe he will be released by next year'

Warning: This article contains discussion of rape which some readers may find distressing.

Lawyers for Josef Fritzl have suggested that he could be released from prison as they are attempting to launch a bid for him to be paroled, claiming he no longer poses a danger to society.

For a short while near the end of the noughties the Austrian man was one of the most recognisable names on the planet after his crimes were discovered.

He had imprisoned his daughter Elisabeth in a prison he built in his cellar, forced her to write letters pretending she had run away from home and told people she'd joined a cult.

Instead, she was kept below his house and for the next 24 years he would keep her there, repeatedly raping his daughter and fathering seven children with her.

Josef Fritzl has been behind bars for 15 years now, but his team are trying to have him released. (JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images)

One of the children died shortly after birth, Fritzl took three upstairs to live with himself and his wife and the other three were forced to live in his dungeon with their mother.

Fritzl was arrested after one of the children had to be taken to the hospital and in 2009 he pleaded guilty to charges of murder by negligence, and imprisoning and raping his daughter for years.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years before becoming eligible for parole, and that period of time has now passed.

As such, the Daily Mirror reports that legal representatives for the 89-year-old will next month attempt to secure parole for Fritzl and if their bid is rejected they will lodge an appeal.

Astrid Wagner told the paper: "We will start an action in March and call for parole and if the court rejects it we will appeal and given his condition I believe he will be released by next year.

Astrid Wagner, Fritzl's legal representative, will lodge a bid for him to be paroled from prison. (JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images)

"He wants to live close to where he previously did and he wants to live alone but I think that is very unlikely given his age and condition. He would need a carer and none of his friends or family want to know."

The Mirror reports that they will argue that the 89-year-old incestuous rapist no longer poses a danger to society due to his age and frailty.

Since his sentencing Fritzl had been held in a psychiatric institution for mentally disturbed prisoners, before last year being transferred to a regular prison.

A court in Krems an der Donau said that since he had 'progressive dementia' and was physically frail he no longer needed to be kept in a psychiatric facility.

However, when that happened the BBC reported the court said him being released from prison would not be possible for 'special preventative reasons' and that due to his 'unprecedented criminal energy' his parole was not to be expected.