Paedophile suspect to face trial over horrific child murders

A BELGIAN court yesterday ordered the trial by jury of Marc Dutroux, nearly seven years after the suspected child killer and paedophile was first arrested over a series of abductions, rapes and murders that shocked the world.

Lawyers said the court in the eastern city of Liege ordered that Dutroux stand trial before an assize court on charges that he kidnapped and murdered four girls, including two eight-year-olds who lived in Liege.

He also stands accused of raping two other girls, who were found alive in the cellar of one of his properties near the city of Charleroi in 1996 after surviving a horrifying ordeal.