BRUSSELS - Belgian police and magistrates investigating a series of child abductions and murders were inhumane, inept, inefficient and ill trained, according to a leak of a parliamentary report to be published next Tuesday.
Listings magazine Telemaustique, which has frequently broken news on the paedophile scandal that has horrified the country for the past nine months, yesterday published what it said were working papers for the report due to be handed to parliament.
The arrest of convicted child rapist Marc Dutroux last August, followed by the rescue of two sexually abused girls from a makeshift dungeon in one of his houses and the discovery of the bodies of four more girls, revolted the nation.
Last month the body of another eight year old Belgian born Moroccan girl was found stuffed into a steel trunk in the basement of a Brussels garage near her home. Convicted child abuser Patrick Derochette has been charged with illegal imprisonment and rape leading to the death of a minor.
As investigations continued, evidence began to come to light of police bungling, judicial rivalry and the failure of communications on a scale that most Belgians found unbelievable. Suspicions began to circulate that Dutroux and his accomplices had benefited from protection by people in high places, a view reinforced by the televised hearings of the parliamentary commission.
The extracts published by Telemoustique are a catalogue of errors. Investigators were slow to get on to the cases, ignored vital evidence, were cold and dismissive towards the parents, jealously guarded key information, had insufficient resources and used them badly and in a completely unco ordinated manner.
The commission report, to be debated in parliament next Wednesday and Thursday, will highlight failures in the system and is expected to name some of the key players who failed to do their jobs properly. However, it will not be the definitive work on the matter. The commission has been granted until September 30th to follow its theory that there may have been highly placed, people pulling strings to interfere with the investigations.