Fritzl
Josef Fritzl's house in Amstetten, Austria, where he imprisoned his daughter in a cellar for 24 years Getty Images

The house where Josef Fritzl imprisoned his daughter in the cellar for 24 years and repeatedly raped her, fathering numerous children, has been sold to a woman who runs a local strip club.

Ingrid Housska and her business partner have purchased the property in Amstetten in northern Austria which they intend to turn into flats, her husband Herbert told the Niederoesterreiche Nachrichten. The couple run a local pub, and strip club Bar Josefine.

"It can't stay empty forever. We need to bring life into it. In two years it will be a house like any other," Herbert Houska was quoted as saying.

"We have lots of trainees, some from (nearby towns) Persenbeug and Ybbs, and so we need employee flats," he told the Niederoesterreiche Nachrichten.

Fritzl fathered seven children by his daughter, Elisabeth, after imprisoning her in the cellar of the home and sexually abusing her for decades. One of the children died days after birth.

Three of the surviving children joined Elisabeth in captivity in the cellar, which was soundproofed and concealed behind seven locked doors. The remaining three were raised by Fritzl and his wife, who claimed they were foundlings.

The shocking crime came to light when one of the children required medical attention at a local hospital, and investigators began to probe the child's parenthood.

Fritzl was jailed for life in 2009, after pleading guilty of the murder by negligence of one of the children, as well as incest, sequestration and 3,000 counts of rape.

Josef Fritzl
Josef Fritzl is serving life in prison Reuters