The wife of notorious Belgian paedophile Marc Dutroux who helped her husband attacks on children has been released from prison 22 years early, outraging her victims' families.

A Belgian court today ruled that a suspect in the killing of two schoolgirls whose bodies were found hidden in a storm drain will remain in custody, despite protests from his lawyers who argued there was no evidence to link him to the crimes.

The Fourniret case has sparked calls to bring down the police and legal barriers between EU countries, says Ann Cahill.

A confessed serial killer is willing to cooperate with Belgian and French investigators to find more bodies of his victims.

A FRENCH avowed serial killer has led police to the bodies of a 12-year-old girl and 22-year-old woman he admitted having killed and buried on the grounds of his former home 15 years earlier, prosecutors said.

HOT on the heels of a paedophile murder trial that revived ugly memories for Belgium, a French forestry worker has confessed to the murder of six girls over a 14-year period and has been accused of killing several other people.

The Beast of Belgium Marc Dutroux was jailed for life without parole today for a spate of child kidnappings, rapes and murders that horrified the nation and drew international notoriety.

The Beast of Belgium, Marc Dutroux, was jailed for life today for a spate of child kidnappings, rapes and murders that horrified the nation and drew international notoriety.

The beast of Belgium, Marc Dutroux, was jailed for life for rape and murder.

Defence lawyers entered final pleas today ahead of the sentencing of Marc Dutroux as Belgium awaited closure of a child rape and murder trial that horrified the nation.

Prosecutors today called for paedophile Marc Dutroux to spend the rest of his life behind bars for multiple counts of child rape and murder that made him the most reviled man in Belgium.

SABINE Dardenne was 12 when her 80-day rape ordeal in the house of Belgian paedophile and murderer Marc Dutroux began.

PSYCHIATRISTS say Marc Dutroux — dubbed the “Monster of Charleroi” by the Belgian press — is less a paedophile than an icy-hearted predator with a murderous desire to control his victims.

THE case that has kept Belgium on tenterhooks since 1996 finally came to a close yesterday after years of delays and blunders.

The Beast of Belgium, paedophile Marc Dutroux, faces life in prison after being convicted today of a series of child rapes and murders in a case that has horrified the country for nearly a decade.

The most hated man in Belgium, paedophile Marc Dutroux, was today convicted of the murder of girls he kidnapped and tortured.

The jury deliberating the fate of Marc Dutroux and three co-defendants in a horrific Belgian child rape and murder case involving six girls reached a verdict today.

The jury in the trial of Marc Dutroux for the rape and murder of young girls retired to consider their verdicts today.

MARC DUTROUX, chief defendant in a horrific child rape and murder trial that has transfixed Belgium for more than three months, rejected the most serious charges against him yesterday in a final courtroom appeal before a jury decides his fate.

Marc Dutroux, chief defendant in a horrific child rape and murder trial that has transfixed Belgium for over three months, rejected the most serious charges against him today in a final courtroom appeal before a jury decides his fate.

Marc Dutroux, chief defendant in a horrific child rape and murder trial that has transfixed Belgium for three months, went into the witness box today to make his final arguments before a jury decides his fate.

Marc Dutroux acted on behalf of a criminal network to kidnap and sell children into the sex trade, his lawyer claimed today during closing arguments in the child sex and murder trial.

Psychiatrists testified today that Marc Dutroux, who is standing trail for kidnapping, abuse and murder involving six young girls, was a psychopath who knew exactly what he was doing.

THE surviving victims of child-rapist Marc Dutroux yesterday returned to the dungeon where he incarcerated and abused them in 1996.

Two victims in the kidnap, rape and murder trial that has shocked Belgium today returned to Marc Dutroux’s home where he held them and two other girls in a dank secret dungeon.

MARC DUTROUX, a paedophile on trial for rape and murder in a case that has horrified Belgium, apologised yesterday to the two victims rescued alive from his basement cell eight years ago.

Marc Dutroux, a paedophile on trial for rape and murder in a case that has horrified Belgium, apologised today to the two victims rescued alive from his basement cell eight years ago.

A victim rescued from Marc Dutroux’s dungeon asked a court today to silence the paedophile during his rape and murder trial which has horrified Belgium.

A WOMAN who was horrifically abused and held for 80 days in a cellar dungeon when she was 12 yesterday came face-to-face with the man accused of kidnapping her.

After eight years, a victim who survived 80 days before being rescued from a cellar dungeon today came face to face for with the man accused of kidnapping her.

TWO young women were set this week to testify at the murder and rape trial of Belgian pedophile Marc Dutroux about how he allegedly held them in captivity in the cellar of his house.

THE trial of Marc Dutroux, accused of kidnapping, raping and killing young girls, was delayed yesterday when he fought with a policemen escorting him from prison to the Belgian court.

The trial of Marc Dutroux, accused of kidnapping, raping and killing young girls, was delayed today when he fought with a policemen escorting him from prison to the Belgian court.

The policeman involved in a search for kidnapped girls who were abused and killed in Belgium eight years ago said today that he is still haunted by how well the chief suspect hid the children.

BELGIAN child rapist Marc Dutroux withdrew his ban on being photographed yesterday but lashed out at the media as his trial for a shocking spate of abductions, rapes and murders resumed for a second week.

Photographers from several Belgian newspapers and the French weekly Paris Match were today barred from entering the courtroom where Marc Dutroux is on trial for kidnapping, child rape and murder after ignoring a ban on publishing pictures of him in the dock.

CHILD rapist Marc Dutroux has claimed he was the scapegoat for a shadowy paedophile gang, as for the first time he gave graphic evidence yesterday at a trial that has Belgium in its lurid grip.

Eliciting gasps of horror in the courtroom, Marc Dutroux took the stand today to describe how he kidnapped and raped young girls in the mid-1990s.

A man testifying at his own trial for kidnapping, abusing and killing young girls in the mid-1990s, said today he built and wired a secret cell in his basement for the victims on orders of a child-sex network operating in Belgium.

Prosecutors used the second day in a child-sex and murder trial today to paint a gruesome picture of crimes they claim Marc Dutroux and his co-defendants committed against six young girls in the 1990s.

BELGIUM'S public enemy Number One and three co-defendants went on trial yesterday for kidnapping, abusing and killing young girls in a mid-1990s crime spree that shocked the country.

PICTURES of Marc Dutroux’s victims hung on the fence outside the Court House in Arlon while inside the man Belgium has been waiting for almost eight years to see on trial sat behindbullet-proof glass.

PSYCHIATRISTS say Marc Dutroux — dubbed the ‘Monster of Charleroi’ by the Belgian press — is less a paedophile than an icy-hearted predator with a murderous desire to control his victims.

Belgium’s public enemy Number One and three co-defendants went on trial today for kidnapping, abusing and killing young girls in a mid-1990s crime spree that shocked the country.