Kidnapper was not helped

A NOTORIOUS Austrian kidnapper who held a young woman captive for eight and a half years acted alone, officials said yesterday.

Natascha Kampusch was snatched on her way to school in 1998 and imprisoned in a cramped, windowless cell. She fled in August 2006, aged 18, after making three failed attempts to get away.

Her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, committed suicide hours after her escape.