BOY FROM THE CELLAR; EXCLUSIVE Innocent Alex, son of Elisabeth and her monstrous father.

Byline: By PATRICK MULCHRONE

PROUDLY grasping a candle at his first communion, Alexander Fritzl looks like any other happy youngster.

It's a snapshot of ordinary life in a Catholic family - but the priest and congregation have no idea that the angelic 10-year-old's dad is cellar brute Josef Fritzl.

Alexander spent his first 15 months in the squalid dungeon where Fritzl kept the boy's mum Elisabeth as a sex slave for 24 years.

A parent who knew the family said: "It's mind-boggling how normal the Fritzls seemed."

Alexander's gran Rosemarie beamed with pride as she watched him at the ceremony - blissfully unaware her husband had fathered the boy and six other children with his imprisoned daughter.

The parent added: "Rosemarie was salt-of-the-earth. She wanted Alexander to be a good Catholic boy and did a good job with him. But he was slow at school, almost backward. It's not surprising given his hellish start in life."

Fritzl, 73, never attended the church in Amstetten, Austria - and it was even feared he could have been making the most of his family's absence to abuse and rape Elisabeth, now 42, in the chamber.

The parent added: "It's very possible he used the time that she was with the children in church to go into the cellar. He knew exactly how long she would be away, and could do whatever horrific deeds he pleased. He never darkened the doors of the church."

As a toddler Alexander, 12, was taken from the cellar and dumped on the doorstep upstairs.

Fritzl convinced Rosemarie, 69, Elisabeth had abandoned him and run off to a sect. He did the same with two of his other children Lisa, 16, and 14-year-old Monika. The engineer forced Elisabeth to write notes to support his runaway story.

Alexander, now being cared for in a hospital suite with the rest of his family, was a twin. His brother Michael died days after their birth.

Fritzl threw the body in the cellar's furnace as tormented Elisabeth looked on.

CAPTION(S):

BRUTAL Fritzl and Elisabeth; DOTING Proud grandmother Rosemarie watches the church service; CANDLES Alex stands in line with friends for the communion service