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Marc Dutroux, convicted in 1996 of five cases of murder, including those of two teenage girls and two young children, has a new hobby, according to reports.

Dutroux was sentenced to life in 2004, but had been in prison awaiting trial since 1996 in connection with the murders of four girls and one of his own confederates, as well as the kidnapping and rape of two other girls, who were ultimately rescued at the time of his arrest.

Now, according to reports, Dutroux has a new hobby, according to reports from his lawyer Bruno Dayez: investigating what are known as cold cases – crimes from the past that remain unsolved today.

Those include, according to Dayez, some of the activities of the armed gang known as the Brabant Killers (or the Gang of Nivelles locally) who carried out armed robberies in the province of Brabant Wallon in the 1980s in which 22 people were injured and 28 killed. The level of casualties was never seen as commensurate with supermarket robberies, and the case became a honeypot for conspiracy theorists (as Dutroux’s own case was itself likely to do).

There has never been the slightest link suggested between the Gang and Dutroux’s own crimes, but Dayez insists that investigators recently visited Dutroux in his cell to question him about the case.

Police, meanwhile, have as expected declined to comment on the suggestion, which seems on the face of it to be highly unlikely. A gang as cold-blooded, most of whose members seem to have evaded justice so far, would hardly be likely to let a real witness as unhinged as Dutroux live peacefully in prison for the past 26 years to be interviewed at intervals by police.

Meanwhile, according to Dayez, the investigators left empty-handed. Dutroux, the lawyer said, was too confused and his story did not make sense. A description which would be understandable given the passage of time, but which also makes sense in light of the mental state of the prisoner, as well as his past history of madness.

Meanwhile, anyone who has arrived in Belgium in the last 26 years, as well as many who have been here longer still, will be asking themselves how it is that a scrap merchant with distinctive body odour and several charges of rape hanging over his head has managed to hold this country in thrall with his every move since the 1980s. This latest chapter, moreover, is unlikely to be the last.

27 years after the disappearance of Julie and Mélissa, an ex-policeman settles his accounts: “We were disturbing”
Exactly 27 years ago, Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo disappeared in Grace-Hollogne. Their captor, Marc Dutroux, is still in prison. But many questions remain. And a former member of the 3SRC at the BSR in Brussels, Aimé Bille, takes advantage of this sad anniversary date to share his feelings and his indignation in relation to the progress of the investigation.

The “young victims and their families have not had the right to real justice. We investigated what we wanted to investigate as long as we did not exceed certain limits... Protections oblige...”. This is how the last Facebook post of the former gendarme, Aimé Bille, about the Dutroux affair ends.

Tax component
In a long text, he returns to certain failures he has witnessed. It all started for him on Friday, September 13, 1996: “I am examining Dutroux's tax file. I find there a rather surprising note: the Gendarmerie of Charleroi had since August 1995 information on Dutroux in connection with kidnappings of children. It's horrifying to find this out. Imagine that it's been six weeks since Julie and Melissa disappeared… Of course, I immediately wrote the necessary minutes to follow up on this discovery and I was later told that with these minutes, I put the gendarmerie on. .. bad position. I do not care. I did my job. But so many years later, I remain marked, shocked that the information recorded in Dutroux's tax file has not been used well or not at all”.

“Mushroom farm”
Then comes the case of the “crime de la Champignonnière”. It is sold to the team of Aimé Bille. It concerns the mutilation and charring of the body of a 16-year-old girl, Christine Van Hees. The body was found in a disused mushroom farm in Auderghem. Among the avenues explored, one leads to Marc Dutroux. Witnesses implicate him. One more than the others: Régina Louf alias X1. However, his statements are deemed not very credible by the courts.


“It is Judge Van Espen who is in charge of this investigation. Very quickly, many shortcomings in the first investigation were identified. I record all this in a PV... of 202 pages! The judge, from January 20, 1997, told us that he feared the Parliamentary Commission and said that he hoped not to have been deceived by the PJ in the first instruction... On the other hand, this file disturbs the direction of the Neufchâteau antenna. Every day, the 'boss' tells me not to waste my time with this file that the Public Prosecutor's Office has asked me to summarize. We are following many leads, but as I said on October 14, 1997 to the Parliamentary Commission, there was no need for X1's testimony to work on this case. There was enough to work properly and move forward... On June 24, 1997 in the morning,

"I am therefore humiliated in front of all my colleagues"

- Aimé Bille, Former Constable

On our return, we learn that all the staff are mobilized at the beginning of the afternoon for a meeting. We sense that something is brewing. The meeting begins. The officer directing the antenna is absent. His trusty lieutenant (who is first chief) leads the meeting and states that a letter from Judge Van Espen has arrived pointing the finger at me saying, 'You're sent home!!!' We all look at each other and many rightly ask for explanations. The presence of the head of the BSR is then required. This guy arrives and confirms the statements of the other: there is a letter from the judge. The Mushroom House investigation is suspended and he confirms my dismissal home until further notice! I am therefore humiliated in front of all my colleagues. Of course, we will ask to see this letter and of course, it will be a refusal. Some months later, my team leader, Rudy Hoskens, will ask for social promotion officer. He will be refused on the pretext of a letter from the judge. He orders a copy.

"In June 1997, Van Espen, together with the King's prosecutor and a substitute, summoned the chairman of the parliamentary commission to make him understand that the commission did not have to deal with the Champignonnière file."

- Aimé Bille, Former Constable

He is given a copy with half obscured. No gendarme's name is mentioned in what we can read. At the end of July 1998, we have access to the file of the investigating judge Pignolet. This letter is there in its entirety. NO gendarme's name appears in this letter dated Sunday, June 22, 1997. In this three-page document transpires mainly Van Espen's concern vis-à-vis the Commission of Inquiry. He fears that we have had contact with this commission. Personally, I had had no contact with anyone from this commission. In June 1997, Van Espen, along with the King's prosecutor and a deputy, summoned the chairman of the parliamentary commission to make him understand that the commission did not have to deal with the Champignonnière case. Must dare! But do not ask what we have to reproach ourselves for acting in this way!” says Aimé Bille.

File closed
Because in his eyes, these steps are far from trivial: “It is clear that we were disturbing with this file. They will then have fun setting up false cases against us, committing false cases to discredit X1… In other words, putting an end to the investigations. When my lawyer will ask the Public Prosecutor's Office two years later what I can be blamed for, the answer will be 'We don't know how to decide'... That says it all... Because what can we say when there is no nothing? But Van Espen knew very well who he had to protect...Six months later, the press will tell me that this judge's sister is the godmother of Nihoul's son... And all the judicial, pre-disciplinary investigations launched against Patrick De Baets and me- even have all concluded with a WITHOUT FAULT, but better, a recognition of good work... It will therefore be exactly 25 years tomorrow that scoundrels have ruined my career, the profession that I loved so much”. Aimé Bille and his colleague Patrick De Baets were dismissed for breaches of professional secrecy.

The conclusion of the first is without appeal: “For 12 years, the investigation has not advanced (or even did not want to succeed, which seems more adequate)”. Today, the “Champignonnière crime” has still not been solved. It has even been prescribed since 2014.

Online Petition
At the beginning of November last year, Aimé Bille launched an online petition to reopen the Bis file in the Dutroux affair. This one takes up DNA traces, testimonies X... which can suggest the existence of an organized network including in particular politicians.

This petition has been signed 2,850 times and is still valid. Last February, it was sent to their three recipients: Her Majesty Queen Mathilde, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld) and Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open Vld).

A book written by Marc Dutroux will be published one day: “I cannot keep these writings to myself”

Bruno Dayez, Marc Dutroux's lawyer, told Sudinfo that his client writes leaflets, from prison, on his investigations concerning his case. He promises to publish a book about it one day.

Marc Dutroux regularly gives dozens of leaflets on his investigations and his criminal past to his lawyer. The prisoner would like his version to be revealed in broad daylight. Bruno Dayez promises that it will happen sooner or later. “It's his wish. Not in the short term, but I won't be able to keep these writings to myself”, explains the lawyer.

“Marc Dutroux puts together the pieces of a puzzle and I ask him to have several pieces to tackle the subject. I sometimes ask him to go to the end of logic to give me elements that will not be contradicted. (...) I am going in the direction of what the public expects, everyone is convinced that the truth has not been known. Can this truth be heard? It's another debate”, continues Bruno Dayez, who “does not despair” either “to seek his release” one day. "It's unimaginable that he dies in prison," he says.

We investigated what we wanted to investigate as long as we did not exceed certain limits... Protections oblige...”