Belgium relives worst nightmare as girls go missing

BRUSSELS - Belgium was yesterday reliving its worst nightmare as a desperate hunt for two missing schoolgirls recalled the crimes of its most notorious child-killer.

Police searched empty buildings and scoured the River Meuse in the hunt for two stepsisters who disappeared at the weekend in the eastern city of Liege, where another pair of schoolgirls were snatched more than ten years ago by the infamous murderer Marc Dutroux.

Investigators were yesterday questioning a suspect with a criminal record for child rape who surrendered to investigators yesterday morning after his name and photograph were released in public.

Abdallah Ait Oud, aged 39, has denied involvement in the disappearance of the children, and has not so far been charged with any crime.

The prosecutor in Liege, Cedric Visart de Bocarme, said the interrogation of Ait Oud had not yielded any new clues on the girls' whereabouts, but added: "We still hope to find them alive."

The fate of the girls, Nathalie Mahy, aged 10, and Stacy Lemmens, aged seven, has reawakened memories of the abduction a decade ago of eight-year-old school friends Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo.

They were snatched near their homes at Grace-Hollogne near Liege in June 1995.

The youngsters were drugged and sexually abused, before starving to death in the underground cell while Dutroux served a prison sentence for another offence. Dutroux is currently serving a life sentence.

Nathalie and Stacy went missing at a street party in Liege at around 1.30 am on Saturday local time (11.30am Saturday NZT) and Ait Oud was seen near the two girls at the Armuriers cafe.

Yesterday black and white photos of the suspect shared newspaper front pages with colour pictures of the two young girls.

Ait Oud, who was released from prison last December, is the boyfriend of an employee of the cafe where the girls were last seen.

His home has already been searched and he is now officially considered a "suspect" rather than a "witness".

However investigators said they have not ruled out other avenues.

In April 1994, Air Oud was arrested for the rape of his 14-year-old niece who had been abused since the age of six.

Sentenced to a five-year jail term, with one year suspended, he was arrested again while on parole for rape, assault and kidnapping.

On this occasion Ait Oud had forced a 14-year-old girl into his car, hit her over the head with a rock and sexually assaulted her.

As the search continued for the two stepsisters there was public criticism of Nathalie's mother Catherine Dizier, whose four other children were asleep in the cafe as she took part in the street party. They have now been taken into care.

Nathalie's father, Didier Mahy, was pinning his hopes on the fact that, Ait Oud had never killed any of his victims.

M Mahy told La Derniere Heure newspaper: "I know that we will find them alive. In what state I'm not sure, but they will be found alive".

Yesterday police were using seven trained tracker dogs to searching homes.

A special police boat was brought from Zeebrugge to the Meuse River which was scoured by divers.

The police are desperate to avoid the errors that characterised their bungled investigation into the Dutroux killings in the 1990s, and which provoked a political crisis in Belgium.

As the full extent of the crimes emerged, and the bodies of four girls were disinterred, public outrage grew into massive street demonstrations across Belgium.

In October 1996, some 300,000 people demonstrated in Brussels to demand better law enforcement.

As a result of the Dutroux fiasco the entire Belgian police system was revamped.

- INDEPENDENT