Kampusch can’t let go of her kidnapper Priklopil

Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian kidnap victim, has finally broken her silence about her eight-and-a-half years in captivity, revealing a surprising attachment to her abductor.

In a documentary shown on Austrian television last night, Kampusch talked about the moment she was captured and how she was "preserved alive like an Egyptian pharaoh" in her kidnapper's cellar. Kampusch, who escaped from Wolfgang Priklopil in August 2006, also said that she carries a photo of her kidnapper around with her.

Now 21, Kampusch was only 10 years old when she was abducted on her way to school by Priklopil. In the documentary, Natascha Kampusch: 3,096 Days Imprisonment, she retells how she was snatched by "Mummy's boy" Priklopil in March 1998.

"He bundled me into his white van and wrapped me up in a blue blanket," Kampusch tells her interviewer in a calm and steady voice. "I guess the journey took about an hour, and when we arrived I saw where he was taking me. I also saw that it took him all his strength to push aside the cellar door."

Priklopil grabbed her shoes and threw them in the furnace. "You won't be needing those now," he said.

Kampusch was aware that Priklopil might rape her, although he never did. She wondered if she would ever be rescued. "I would lie awake at night wondering what would happen to me if he were to die or be unable to come back for me. Would I die and nobody would ever know?"

Kampusch's interview comes almost three weeks after a Vienna court ruled that Priklopil had carried out the kidnapping alone. Despite fleeing from Priklopil, Kampusch faced claims that she had sided with her abductor. Theories circulated that Priklopil, who committed suicide hours after Kampusch escaped, was part of a paedophile ring. Kampusch, it was suggested, refused to reveal the identities of his accomplices because she had confused feelings for him.

Kampusch has found it hard to let go of her connection with Priklopil. As well as keeping his photo in her handbag, she has bought his house, where she was held captive, and recently purchased his BMW car.

Last night she also revealed how she hopes to meet Priklopil's mother, Waltraud, "within the next couple of months". The 67-year-old was a regular visitor to the house, but Kampusch was never allowed out of her soundproof cellar at these times.

What is Kampusch planning to do with Priklopil's house, her 'home' for a third of her life? She does not know, but she stressed: "If I choose to sell it, I will make certain that the cellar is filled in." ·