A2 Ethics - Criminal Responsibility, Determinsim

Was Joseph Fritzel - determinsined to act this way or was he in full control of his actions?

The court later heard psychiatrist Dr Adelheid Kastner say there was a danger Fritzl would repeat his behaviour if he was left untreated.

"He will remain the same person, and the ways to exercise this control will change and change with his physical abilities, but his needs will remain the same," she told the BBC outside the court.

"So he will be a danger and he has to be kept in prison until he is no danger for others."

She recommended that he be sent to a special facility for deranged criminals, although strictly speaking he was not insane.

"What I told the court was that Mr Fritzl has never been mentally ill," she said, "and that he has always been sane in the legal sense of the word - that he was always able to discern between right and wrong, and that he always knew what he did was wrong."

She said Fritzl had an overwhelming need to dominate and control, which she said stemmed from his childhood.