A famous European TV reporter is trying to lure Josef Fritzl – the Austrian monster accused of imprisoning his daughter beneath the family home for more than 20 years and fathering her children – into taping an exclusive interview.

The inducement is a promise that the money TV networks around the world would pay for the interview would all go to his daughter, Elisabeth, so that she could start a new life.

The reporter, Michael Leidig, says the interview could raise as much as $500,000, according to reports.

Fritzl went on trial yesterday on the unimaginable charges of holding his daughter prisoner for more than 20 years and fathering seven children with her.

Leidig – a TV reporter who co-wrote a controversial book about Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian girl abducted and held in a cellar for eight years – is said to be in talks with Fritzl’s lawyers for an interview once the trial is over.

“This could put some money in Elisabeth’s pocket and give her the chance she never had,” he told London’s Guardian newspaper.