Bodies of missing Belgian schoolgirls found in storm drain [video report]

Stacy Lemmens (left) and Nathalie Mahy.

LIEGE - The bodies of Belgium's two missing schoolgirls were recovered from near a railway line yesterday, ending a desperate 18-day search for the stepsisters who vanished from a street party.

Last seen in the early hours of June 9-10, the remains of seven-year-old Stacy Lemmens and her 10-year-old stepsister Nathalie Mahy were found in a railway storm drain about half a mile from the bar from which they disappeared.

Police had searched the area before but had failed to find the corpses because of dense undergrowth.

Yesterday they went back with heavier equipment, making the first of their two grim discoveries, hidden from view by heavy concrete slabs, at about 11am local time (9pm NZT).

Just after 4pm local time the second body, that of Nathalie, was removed from the railway line in a blacked out van and taken for forensic examination.

Police said the two bodies had been at there for several days and were in the same state of decomposition, suggesting that the girls died soon after they went missing. One body was said to show signs of violence.

The fate of Stacy and Nathalie reawakened memories of the crimes of Belgium's notorious child-killer, Marc Dutroux, who snatched two of his young victims from Liege in 1995.

They subsequently starved to death in the basement of his house in Marcinelle while Dutroux served a prison sentence for another offence.

Until yesterday the parents of Stacy and Nathalie had clung to the hope that they were still alive, and pictures of the girls had been distributed across the continent.

Belgium's prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, said: "Priority will be given to uncovering the culprit, or culprits, in this terrible double murder. I can assure you that none of them will get away with this."

Elio Di Rupo, premier of the French-speaking Wallonia region, said the discovery marked "a new black day for Belgium."

A convicted child rapist, Abdullah Aid Oud, aged 38, has been charged with the girls' kidnapping and has been held by police since handing himself in on June 13 when he was identified publicly as a suspect.

He was seen at the "Aux Armuriers" bar where the two girls were last seen alive and is the boyfriend of one of the waitresses there.

Aid Oud denies any involvement in their disappearance and yesterday Anne Bourguignont, the royal public prosecutor for Liege, said that, so far, the discoveries have "not produced new elements linked to the person in custody".

However she added that there are no other suspects and that the results of forensic tests are not yet known.

Liege Prosecutor Cedric Visart de Bocarmé said that the two girls had been murdered but there was no further detail on the precise cause of death or whether they had been sexually assaulted.

The discovery of the bodies was from routine police work rather than as a result of questioning the main suspect, the authorities said.

If forensic examination of the bodies links Aid Oud to the murders, the Belgian judicial authorities will face questions about why he was released from prison last December, despite his record.

Told of the discovery, Christiane Granziero, the mother of Stacy was taken ill and had to be admitted to hospital.

Last night residents began laying flowers close to the spot where the bodies were found in a rundown part of the city.

Near the bar from which the two girls disappeared, Dominique Marchand, said: "The problem is with the justice system when you have sick people who are released from prison too soon." Fernande Staveaux added: "It is a tragedy. But I have to say I would not allow children out at 2am, especially in this area."

- INDEPENDENT