Marc Dutroux, Belgium's most reviled man, was found guilty yesterday of kidnapping and raping six girls between the ages of eight and 19 and killing four of them in a trial that has gripped the country for months.

After three days of deliberations, the jury found the man described by experts as a self-absorbed psychopath guilty on all counts for a series of crimes that shocked the country in 1996.

Dutroux, 47, faces life in prison. The crimes, which included the death by starvation of two girls in a dungeon in the basement of Dutroux's house near the southern city of Charleroi, have haunted the country for years.

Not only did they make Belgium synonymous with paedophilia in the world's eyes, they also raised questions in people's minds about the possible complicity of police and politicians.

The bungled investigation into the missing girls led many Belgians to believe Dutroux worked under the protection of a child sex ring whose members included influential people.

In his testimony, Dutroux played on this, describing himself as a reluctant accomplice who supplied girls to a mysterious ring for fear of his life.

Despite allusions to police helping kidnap girls and suggestions the ring had ties to a Satanic cult, Dutroux and his lawyers failed to produce evidence to support their claims.

During a brief recess in yesterday's proceedings, members of the victims' families came out of the courtroom expressing relief at the verdicts on Dutroux and the two co-defendants.

"I am happy," a smiling Paul Marchal told local television. "They are guilty for everything that they have done."

His daughter, An, and her friend Eefje Lambrecks were kidnapped while on holiday on the coast in 1995. Their bodies were dug up in the backyard of a house near Charleroi after Dutroux's 1996 arrest.

The jury found two co-defendants, Dutroux's ex-wife Michelle Martin and Michel Lelievre, guilty of similar charges.

But the 12 jury members were divided on the guilt of a third co-defendant, businessman Michel Nihoul, and the judges sided with the minority, leading to his acquittal on charges of conspiracy and kidnapping.

The jury also found Nihoul - accused by Dutroux of being the mastermind behind the crimes - not guilty on charges of being an accomplice, but guilty of masterminding a gang involved in drugs and human trafficking.

"I was especially relieved that Nihoul was found guilty of leading a gang, and also on human trafficking," Paul Marchal said.

Georges-Henri Beauthier, the lawyer of Laetitia Delhez, one of two victims who survived, was only partly satisfied.

"It's a satisfying episode but not totally satisfying because Nihoul was an important element, but he will have 20 years which is satisfying because Dutroux was clearly not acting alone," he told reporters.

Nihoul has always denied any wrongdoing. The co-defendants could each get more than 20 years. Dutroux stared resolutely at the table, scribbling on a piece of paper, whenever his crimes were mentioned when the jury's verdict was read in public.

The debate on the sentencing will start on Monday with the prosecutor, defence lawyers and defendants reacting to the verdict in this southeast Belgian town near Luxembourg.

Dutroux had admitted kidnapping and raping some of the girls but denied killing any of them, blaming other defendants for their deaths.