French Paedophile Ring Case Turns Into Judicial Fiasco

What began five years ago as one of France's most shocking paedophile cases last night turned into one of its biggest judicial fiascos as an appeals court acquitted six accused - meaning just four of the 17 men and women originally charged will finally have been found guilty.

"This case represents a major, catastrophic malfunction of the justice system," admitted the chief public prosecutor of Paris, Yves Bot, in a rare court appearance to offer his regrets to the accused and demand a full acquittal. "We must ensure this never happens again."

L'affaire d'Outreau, as it has become known after the name of the small northern town where the abuse supposedly took place, has raised questions about the extent to which children's testimony should be believed, and about the all-powerful role of the investigating magistrate.

The justice minister, Pascal Clement, was expected last night to announce changes to the law to ensure that in sensitive cases investigating magistrates, who conduct the police inquiry, hear witnesses and suspects and decide who is charged, are under supervision.

The case first came to light in 2000, when social workers alerted police to their fears about the four children of Myriam Badaoui and her husband Thierry Delay. The Delays and another couple on the depressed Tour du Renard estate, David Delplanque and Aurélie Grenon, eventually admitted systematically abusing and raping the children since 1995. But Badaoui went on to implicate 14 other adults in what she said was an organised paedophile ring. She also insisted that 14 more children had suffered serial abuse.

The magistrate in charge of the inquiry, Fabrice Bourgaud, aged 30 at the time, rapidly became convinced - in the words of one judicial expert - that he had "the case of the century" in his hands. He is now at the centre of a storm over whether he should face disciplinary action.

Despite the absence of any evidence beyond that implicating the two couples at the centre of the case, Judge Bourgaud chose to believe what were later revealed as the imaginings of Myriam Delay and the wild inventions of the other children. Worse, crucial evidence exonerating many of the accused was never heard in court.

Most of the 13 suspects who continued to plead their innocence were placed in detention in 2001. Many lost their jobs and saw their children taken into care. The case has revealed serious flaws in France's judicial system, which should never have allowed most of the case to come to court. "It's a judicial crash," said a leading magistrate, Dominique Barella. "You have to ask questions about the pilot, but also about the navigator, the air traffic controllers and the state of the plane."