London, Aug 22 : The trial of Austrian incest fiend Josef Fritzl will be held behind closed doors, a court official has revealed. The public and press will "quite certainly" be excluded to protect his victims in Sankt Poelten, Austria, he said.

This implies that the full story of how Fritzl kept daughter Elisabeth caged as a sex slave for 24 years may never be known.

Elisabeth, 42, had seven children by her evil father, 74.

Three were taken to live upstairs with Fritzl and wife Rosemarie, 69.

The others - Kerstin, 19, Stefan, 18, and Felix, five - were held in the cellar with their mum at the home in Amstetten.

Most evidence will be from Elisabeth on video.

It is not known if the cellar children will testify, when the trial will start or the charges.

The public will be allowed in only for the formal start - set to last three days - and after the verdicts.

"The authorities want to protect Elisabeth and her children and stop the trial from becoming some sort of ghoulish daily freak show," The Sun quoted a Austrian legal expert, as saying.

ANI