Kidnapper 'part of my life', says woman held for eight years

An Austrian teenager who spent eight years in a dingy underground cell until her dramatic escape last week issued a statement today defending her captor as “part of my life” and insisting she did not miss anything during her long ordeal.

In remarks read to reporters in Vienna by a psychologist, 18-year-old Natascha Kampusch said she understood the “extreme curiosity” about what she endured and how she is faring since she bolted to freedom last Wednesday, but she pleaded with journalists: “Please leave me alone for a while.”