Abuse Trial Ends in France

France's largest ever child abuse trial drew to a close yesterday with prosecutors demanding maximum sentences of up to 30 years for some of the 66 defendants accused of raping, sexually abusing and prostituting 45 children - sometimes their own.

On the second and final day of their closing arguments after four months of hearings, the two public prosecutors, Yvan Auriel and Philippe Toccanier, used overhead projectors to draw arrows linking the defendants' names to those of their alleged victims.

"We deeply regret it, but we must ask that you pronounce penalties of imprisonment in order quite simply to remove some of the accused from our society," Mr Auriel told the jury in the court in Angers, demanding a total of 370 years in jail for 33 of the defendants.

The heaviest sentence, 30 years with no chance of release for 20 years, was demanded for one of the ring's alleged leaders, Philippe V, described by the prosecutors as a "cynical, disabused, indifferent" monster who had, over the years, successively raped his daughter, his son and his four grandchildren, and had told the court that he "couldn't give a toss" about his offspring.

"There is absolutely nothing to excuse him," Mr Auriel said. "He is perfectly intelligent; he always chose the youngest; he is a paedophile. Throughout his life he has raped little children. What possibility is there that he can ever be reinserted into society?"

The case has been described by lawyers and social workers as an example of the irreparable breakdown of social, moral and human values in a a rundown housing estate in Angers, 165 miles from Paris.

Verdicts in the case are expected on July 26.