My pride is all I have left says wife Rosemarie Fritzl in her first interview

Rosemarie Fritzl, 69, has changed her name and moved to a new town.

She said: "I don't know where I'm heading now. My life has already been ruined enough. I don't have any money. My pride is all I have left, that and my family. All I want is to keep my family."

Mrs Fritzl, who says she only found out about her husband's alleged crimes after his arrest last April, added: "People have said so many things about me, but I can't speak. I just want to be left alone."

She lives on a modest pension in a rented first-floor flat in Linz, northern Austria.

One of her only confidantes is her sister Christine Renner, 65.

Ms Renner said: "My sister Rosemarie has really been destroyed by this whole business. She's had a terrible life and I never thought I would say it but I think her life is even worse now than it was when she was with him.

"As well as losing the children, everyone thinks she must have known something. She is an emotional and physical wreck. She rarely leaves her flat, unless it's to go for a walk alone. If she hadn't the children to think of I don't think she'd go on.

"She'll never get over it, but I hope she finds a little peace. Financially, she's struggling. Half her pension goes on her rent alone. She pays for everything herself. She changed her name last year and even had to pay for that. She doesn't have anything to do with Josef any more."

Detectives have never formally charged Mrs Fritzl with anything and were quick to clear her from colluding with her husband after they interviewed her last April.

Police did investigate a claim that Mrs Fritzl was seen in supermarkets buying nappies and baby food with her husband, but she said she had no idea what was going on in the cellar beneath her.

When her daughter Elisabeth disappeared in 1984 her husband told her that she had run away to join a cult.

She told detectives that his regular visits to the cellar were explained as "engineering work" and she was forbidden to go there.

When she was given three babies to raise by her husband, he said that they had been dumped by the missing Elisabeth on a doorstep with a note.