Marc Dutroux: child killer's mother says he must remain in jail Marc Dutroux, right, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004 for the kidnap and rape of six girls and the murder of four of them. Photograph:Yves Logghe/AP The mother of Belgium's most notorious child killer, Marc Dutroux, has called for him to remain in jail, hours before a court is due to rule on when he should be given conditional release. In an interview with Le Soir newspaper, Jeanine Dutroux, 78, said she was "certain he will start again" if he was freed. It is the first time she has spoken since her son was convicted nine years ago for 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 allows him to make a request to be given 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, insists he is no longer a danger and wants to be released under house arrest with the condition that he wears an electronic bracelet. The prospect of his release has provoked an controversy in Belgium, which is still affected by what are considered 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 has several issues to consider: the likelihood that he will 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.