Fury as wife of Belgian paedophile Dutroux released from prison

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.

Michelle Martin (aged 52) received a 30-year sentence in 2004 for not freeing girls who Dutroux kept imprisoned in their cellar.

Dutroux, 55, is serving a life term for kidnapping, torturing and sexually abused six girls in 1995 and 1996.

During that time he spent four months in jail for theft, leaving it to his wife to feed two young girls he had imprisoned. She did not and they died.

A court in the city of Mons granted Martin's release request. A Belgian convent has offered to take her in.

The parents of the two murdered girls expressed outrage at the court's decision, saying Martin, who has since divorced Dutroux, was as bad as her husband.