Court rejects child killer's appeal for conditional release after his mother, Jeanine Dutroux, 78, warns her son will murder again

Belgium's most notorious child killer, Marc Dutroux, will not be released from prison early, after a court rejected his request to be placed under house arrest.

The court's decision came shortly after his mother, Jeanine Dutroux, 78, publicly called for him to remain in jail, telling Le Soir newspaper she was "certain he will start again" if freed.

It was the first time she had spoken since her son was convicted nine years ago of kidnapping and raping six girls, four of whom died.

"Marc is not ready to be released because he is still trying to blame others for what he did. I am certain he will start again. He has no sense of reality. He's a repeat offender in his soul, as he has already proven throughout his life," she told the paper.

She added: "Sooner or later he will be released, but I hope to be no longer in this world when that happens."

Dutroux, 56, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004 for the kidnap and rape of six girls between June 1995 and 1996, and for the murder of four of them.

Belgian law allowed him to request conditional release on 30 April, when he will have served a third of his 45-year prison term, including the time spent in prison awaiting trial.

Dutroux, who was arrested in 1996, insisted he was no longer a danger and wanted to be released under house arrest with the condition that he wears an electronic bracelet.

The prospect of his release provoked outrage in Belgium, which is still affected by what many consider to be the worst sexual crimes in its history.

As well as outrage over the nature of Dutroux's crimes, there was public fury over mistakes in the investigation. Belgian police had visited the property where Dutroux was holding two of his eight-year-old victims without finding them. The girls were later found to have starved to death.

In 1998 the killer escaped during a court visit. Although he was quickly recaptured, the country's police chief, justice minister and interior minister resigned over the blunders.

In August last year there were angry demonstrations when Dutroux's ex-wife Michelle Martin, convicted as an accomplice, was given a conditional release after serving 16 years of a 30-year sentence She now lives in a convent.

Several of Dutroux's victims have protested to the European court of human rights against the country's rules on conditional release of prisoners.

Laetitia Delhez, held for six days by Dutroux in 1996 when she was 14, her mother and Jean-Denis Lejeune, whose daughter Julie was found dead in Dutroux's home, want courts to be forced to consult victims before agreeing to the release of sex offenders.

Dutroux and Martin were jailed in the 1980s over the kidnap and rape of five young girls. They were freed early on good behaviour but went on to attack again.

According to Belgian newspapers citing official documents, Dutroux's appeal involved several issues: the likelihood that he would not find work, the question of where he would live, the risk that he would contact his victims given his "lack of compassion towards them" – Belgian newspapers reported that Dutroux told detectives he had "treated the little ones with humanity" – and the risk that he would reoffend.

Knowing that he is unlikely to find anyone to employ him, Dutroux has said he wants to become a freelance plumber or panel beater if released.