BELGIAN police extended their search for bodies yesterday at a house owned by the chief suspect in the scandal of child kidnapping, pornography and killing that has stunned Europe. At the same time the lawyer of the convicted child rapist, Mr Marc Dutroux, refused on moral grounds to defend him.
Belgium was plunged into a state of shock 11 days ago after Mr Dutroux led police to the bodies of two eight year old friends, Melissa Russo and Julie Lejeune, in his garden. Buried with them was an accomplice, Bernard Weinstein, whom Mr Dutroux admitted killing.
"I have a little girl of Julie and Melissa's age, who has been really disturbed by these events, and I don't think she could have understood that her father was defending this man," the lawyer, Mr Didier de Quevy, said.
Mr Dutroux and an associate, Mr Michel Lelievre, have been charged with abduction and illegal imprisonment. Two other girls, Laefitia Delhez (14), and Sabine Dardenne (12), were rescued on August 15th from a makeshift dungeon in another of the six houses Mr Dutroux owns in and around the southern city of Charleroi.
Mr Dutroux has also confessed to kidnapping two teenagers, Ms An Marchal and Ms Eefje Lambrechts, who disappeared from the port of Ostend a year ago, Their fate remains unknown. While hope flickers that they may be still alive, speculation has grown in the Belgian media that five bodies might be hidden at the site in Jumet, near Charleroi.
Belgian Police have files on 13 children who have gone missing over the past 10 years, a senior official said yesterday.