Convent move for paedophile’s jailed ex-wife

THE ex-wife of paedophile Marc Dutroux, who aided her husband’s horrific abuse and killing of young girls – and who let two of the children starve to death – was approved yesterday for early release from prison to a convent, infuriating the victims’ parents and reopening a dark page in Belgian history.

Michelle Martin, 52, received a 30-year prison term in 2004 for not freeing girls her then-husband Dutroux held captive behind a secret door in the basement of their home in Marcinelle, about 40 miles south of Brussels. Dutroux, 55, is serving a life term for kidnapping, torturing and abusing six girls in 1995 and 1996, four of whom he murdered.

During those years, Dutroux also spent four months in jail for theft, leaving it to his wife to feed Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, two eight-year-old girls imprisoned in the basement. Martin, herself a mother of three, let the girls starve to death.

Martin and Dutroux have been behind bars since they were arrested on 12 August, 1996. Under Belgian law, early release is possible after one-third of a sentence is served, including credit for time spent in pre-trial custody. In Martin’s case, a ­Belgian convent has said it would take her in as part of the conditions of her release.

But parents of the couple’s victims said they were shocked by the decision to release Martin early and accused the court of ­ignoring their feelings.

The ruling “came out of the blue,” said Paul Marchal, whose daughter, An, 17, was drugged and killed in Dutroux’s dungeon.

“I believed this should not happen,” Mr Marchal said. “If Martin gets an early release, then who will they keep in prison?”

Jean Lambrecks, whose daughter, Eefje, 19, was also was killed by Dutroux, said he “was sure she would remain in prison, for she is as bad as Dutroux.”

“She starved children to death,” Mr Lambrecks said. “She knew they were in the cellar.”

Jean-Denis Lejeune, father of Julie, one of the girls left to die in the cellar, told Belgian broadcaster RTL: “I have a profound rage [about the release]. You kill a child, you rape a child, they are raped, they are killed for life.”

A court in the city of Mons granted Martin’s early release request – her fifth in eight years – after her lawyers found a place for her at the convent and convinced the court she would not become a repeat offender.

However, she will probably not be released for another two weeks, leaving the prosecution time to appeal the ruling.

Martin is no longer the woman who was jailed in 1996, said her lawyer, Thierry Moreau. He added: “She says her guilt will follow her to the grave.”

The court ruled that Martin, who was not in court, could go to the Clarisse Convent in ­Malonne, a village 40 miles south-east of the Belgian capital.

But local resident Michel Dethier said of the move: “We pollute Malonne, we stain the memory of these little girls and these other people who died for nothing. This is monstrous.”

Dutroux was a repeat offender whose first abuse conviction dated back to 1986. For that initial conviction, he was sentenced to almost 14 years in prison, but served only three.