Dutroux faces trial with three others

A court in Belgium ruled yesterday that the suspected paedophile and child killer Marc Dutroux is to stand trial with three others.

The trial has been delayed for more than six years as police tried to determine the extent of a wider paedophile ring. But it is still not expected to start before 2004.

Lawyers said Dutroux would be in the dock with his wife, Michèle Martin, who has been charged as an accomplice. Two other men, Michel Lelièvre and Michel Nihoul, also face charges in the case.

Dutroux has been in custody since August 1996, accused of the abduction, rape and murder of four girls, including two eight-year-olds who starved to death in makeshift dungeons under one of his houses near Charleroi, south of Brussels, in August 1996. He also faces charges for abducting two girls who survived.

Mr Nihoul, a Brussels businessman, was initially portrayed as the linchpin of a paedophile ring but there have been doubts about whether there is sufficient evidence against him.

He has always denied being part of any child sex ring and any involvement in the murders.

He is alleged by a public prosecutor to have been involved in some of the kidnappings, and supplying drugs to Mr Lelièvre the day after one of the girls was kidnapped.

Earlier this year, a grand jury in the town of Neufchateau said there was no case against him. That decision was overturned yesterday by the appeals court in Liège.

The move was welcomed by Dutroux's lawyer, Daniel Kahn, who said the trial would show that his client was not an "isolated predator".

But one of his surviving victims, Sabine Dardenne, held for 80 days when she was 12, spoke recently about her ordeal and appeared to pour cold water on the idea that her tormentor was part of a wider network. Carine and Gino Russo, parents of victim Melissa, eight when she was killed, said they hoped the truth would now emerge.

Belgians were revolted by the killings but their outrage soon turned to anger at bumbling by investigators, triggering huge street protests.

Dutroux has admitted being involved in the abduction of six girls, but says he had nothing to do with the killings.