BELGIANS reacted with horror yesterday as details emerged of the death by starvation of two kidnapped eight year old girls, Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, whose bodies were dug up on Saturday as police investigated a widening child sex scandal.
"It is truly horrible . . . unimaginable," one spectator told Belgian RTBF radio as police continued their excavations at two houses linked to Mr Marc Dutroux (39), who is being held with his wife and four other people in connection with the investigation.
A number of Dutch language Belgian newspapers put out special editions yesterday. Many urged the reintroduction of the death penalty for paedophile crimes.
The death penalty was finally erased from Belgian statute books in June after lying dormant for many years.
The Marc and Corine group, set up several years ago by the parents of two abducted and murdered children to support the parents of other missing or abducted youngsters, launched a petition calling for irreduceable sentences for paedophiles.
Belgian television began to draw parallels with the unmasking of the British mass murderers, Fred and Rosemary West.
Mr Dutroux and Mr Michel Lelievre have been charged with abduction and illegal imprisonment of children. Mr Dutroux's second wife, Ms Michelle Martin, who denies involvement, is due to appear in court today.
It was Mr Dutroux, detained last Tuesday as police investigated the disappearance of Laetitia Delheze (14), who led police to the graves of the two girls on Saturday.
He told police the two children, abducted a year ago, had died of starvation in February while he was in jail for theft.
He denied sexually abusing them. The parents said the children had been forced to take part in sex videos.
The mood in Belgium under went a complete change in just two days.
On Friday there was an explosion of joy as police rescued Ms Delheze, who had been abducted a week previously, and Ms Sabine Dardenne (12), who had been missing for nearly three months.
The two, who had been sexually abused, were found crammed into a tiny concrete dungeon hidden behind a cupboard in the basement of a house owned by Mr Dutroux in the southern city of Charleroi.
Fifteen children have been abducted in Belgium in the last six years. Seven have been found dead, two Delheze and Dardenne have been rescued and six are still missing.
Police said Mr Dutroux had admitted abducting An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks last year, although their fate or whereabouts remained a mystery.
While being careful to avoid stalking of the possibility of a nationwide paedophile ring, police said they now had brought all the dossiers together. The bodies of Julie and Melissa were found with that of a third person, identified simply as a former associate of Mr Dutroux.
Police continued their search yesterday, using mechanical diggers and pneumatic drills to excavate in and around several houses owned by Mr Dutroux.
One of the main sites was a terraced house near Charleroi where the three bodies were found and the scene of the rescue of the two girls two days earlier.
Mr Dutroux was detained along with Ms Martin and Mr Lelievre last Tuesday after eyewitness evidence identified Mr Dutroux's van as being in the area when Laetitia was abducted.