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

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

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.