(For anyone looking for my usual news about life in France please go to my new blog here.)

Yes, the paper has mentioned the Fourniret trial, and this week they are examining the case of a 14 year old Belgian girl. Fourniret approached her while she was waiting for a train.

He offered her money and the chance of a job at a bakers if she would get in his car and go to the next village with him.

She refused and he tried to drag her away. Fortunately she managed to escape and board her train. When he was arrested Fourniret admitted talking to her but denied offering money or using force.

On the same page, though, there was the story of another trial: a sixty year old woman accused of cutting off her partner's penis.

She claims that it was his dog who was the culprit because he always let it sleep with him. Indeed, the police found no trace of a suitable weapon nor the missing appendage but subsequent examination of the dog's faeces didn't show any sign that he had eaten it either.

Despite the fact that the apartment hadbeen cleaned, there was evidence of blood in various rooms, including the toilet so they suspect she flushed it down the loo.

The man doesn't remember how it happened because he was very drunk at the time. The woman called the ambulance and he was found, fully clothed and soaked in blood. The doctors did what they could to save his life but couldn't replace what was missing.

The man maintains that his dog could not be the guilty party because he 'only ever ate raw meat.'

He will not be present at the trial because he has been suffering severe psychological problems since the incident.

Feelings ran high this week as Fourniret was being examined about the abduction and murder of a local girl, Celine Saison, aged 18.

She disappeared on her way home and her body was found some time later. She had been strangled.

Fourniret admitted the murder but kept denying he had raped her until the very last minute, when he answered a direct question in a roundabout way, acknowledging his guilt.

Celine's family had relived the horror of her disappearance but then her father looked the murderer straight in the eyes and told him he hated him so much he hoped he would live long enough to spit on his grave. There was a ripple of applause form the listeners outside the courtroom.

The people of Charleville, however, were much more vociferous in their condemnation. When the Fourniret couple left the court to return to prison there were insults and threats including a wish to tear them to shreds.

Later, the local paper interviewed a man at Floing who had Fourniret as a neighbour for three years.

He had found him distant, but polite and and correct. Not the sort of chap you could have a joke with - except one odd time when he turned up at a village party in drag - dressed as a prostitute!

Otherwise, in retrospect, the man wondered if he was being groomed as a witness, when, for example, Fourniret made a point of coming to speak to him in the morning in his slippers and pyjamas, after a night when he had returned home in the early hours.

If he asked a question which Fourniret wished to avoid he would reply, "If anyone asks you, tell them you know nothing."

In the third week of his trial Fourniret faces an inquiry into the attempted rape of a young girl in a 'poodle parlour' in Belgium.

He entered her shop in the late afternoon wearing a hooded jacket and armed with a stolen gun. He claimed the police were looking for him because he had shot an officer, and after making sure the girl was alone he made her lie on the floor.

He then had to let her get up again to give him the keys to the shop. He locked the door, pulled down the blinds and switched off the lights, still threatening her with the gun.

He tied her hands behind her back with a scarf after first attempting to put handcuffs on her. Then he took her through to the room behind the shop where he made her undress and attampted to rape her.

She fought off her aggressor and convinced him she was pregnant. According to her, Fourniret hit her head against the shower and threatened her with a knife pointed at her stomach before fleeing with her purse containing money and two bank cards. He made her tell him the codes but wasn't able to draw out any money when he later tried to use cash dispensers at Jambes and Namur.

Founiret confessed in July 2004, admitting that the crime was premeditated. However, he denies hitting the girl or threatening her with a knife.

Will he speak today or continue to annoy the court with his obstinate silence?

For the lighter side of life chez-nous please see my other blog.

Yesterday the court was examining the facts surrounding the disappearance of Natacha Danais, a thirteen year old victim of the Founirets.

While Maitre Seban was interrogating him over certain discrepancies in his story, Founiret broke his silence to make a chilling offer. He knew that the parents of an English girl, Joanna Parrish, who went missing at the same time as Natacha, were present in the courtroom, and declared he was willing to meet them face to face and talk about their daughter.

This caused momentary confusion among the magistrates but they decided to continue their original line of investigation.

Fourniret went so far as to say that his memory, though detailed and precise was not infallible and so as soon as he was pressed further to explain what had happened to Natacha he sat down and went silent.

It was left to Monique Olivier to give her version: they were on their way back to the Ardennes after appearing in court for burning down a workshop belonging to André Michaut, Monique's former partner (because she wanted revenge). Fourniret spotted Natacha on the carpark of a commercial centre and decided this 'petit sujet' was going to surrender her virginity to him.

They persuaded her to get into the back of their van. Olivier claimed she was walking her dog when he murdered her. Her body was found on a beach a few days later.

The saddest part of the story came from Natacha's family. They spoke of the carefree, happy child they knew and loved: of the trip to the supermarket where the mother discovered she had left her purse at home. Natacha was sent to fetch it. She asked one of her sisters to go with her.

"But I said 'no'." she sobbed.

Today the court will be full of Belgian reporters because they are going to examine the kidnapping of Fourniret's youngest victim, Elisabeth Brichet, just 12 and a half, on the outskirts of Namur when she was on her way home. It was December 1989.

Founiret had spied on her for three hours, driving around in his van with Monique Olivier and their baby, before pouncing - persuading her to get into the van to show them the way to a doctor for their son. No-one witnessed him taking her, right there in the street in broad daylight.

He drove into France and took her to his house in Floing where she was assaulted. She was kept tied to a bed all night and then put in the boot of his car fr the drive to the chateau at Sautou.

He assaulted her again and then strangled her. Her body was kept in a freezer for several days before he buried her in the grounds of the chateau.

Her mother and the Belgian police tried desperately to find her for 15 years until Fourniret confessed to the crime and told them where they could find her remains in July 2004.

Her anorak and identity papers were found and her head was covered in plastic 'to protect her from the earth' claimed the murderer.

This must surely be one of his most horrific crimes.

Today he is being prosecuted for false imprisonment and murder, preceded by attempted  rape of a minor. Monique Olivier is accused of being his accomplice.

Yesterday the local paper reported a story apart from the actual trial.

It seems a farmer at Floing saw Fourniret leaving a forest pathway at the wheel of a van back in 1990. A few months later he discovered a mound of earth the size of a grave.

He thought no more of it at the time because he was used to people with metal detectors searching for artifacts left over from the war and digging up their finds, but when he saw news of Fourniret's arrest it rang alarm bells.

Their eyes had met as Founiret drove out of the forest via a path which had no exit in the opposite direction. Could he have been burying another victim?

The farmer contacted the police and they came to take a statement at his farmhouse. However, he doesn't remember taking them to see the mound in the woods and he hasn't heard any more about it.

According to a police spokesman his story was too vague.

"C'est bidon, cette histoire" (It's a load of old codswallop).

However, there's a very interesting point in the farmer's story. He was adamant that Fourniret was not driving the big van that has been shown so much on the television.

He described a small white van, the size of the Post Office vans.

Now, the paper has discovered that Fourniret acquired just such a van - a Citroen C15 - in May 1990 and sold it five months later.

He also lived in Floing from 1988 until 1991.

I'd have thought that was enough to warrant further investigation, wouldn't you?

For the lighter side of French life try my other blog.

The father of Jeanne-Marie has been grieving for his daughter since 1989, his wife had died of a broken heart,  but Fourniret stood, stubbornly silent and unmoved before this old man in his wheelchair, who had summoned up his remaing strength to sit through this trial.

The Fournirets had hatched an obscene plot to trap the young girl. Using the name Jadot they spent two months  gaining her confidence - a 'chance' meeting at the station - a compliment on her good standard of education - discussion of religious topics (because Jeanne-Marie was boarding at a convent) and this naive and trusting girl soon regarded them as friends.

When they invited her to stay at their house and babysit  for them she was thrilled. According to a friend she thought it would be a chance to earn some pocket money. One of the nuns remembers a call from a woman with a mellifluous voice asking after her when she was ill. This was just a few days before her disappearance.

Her body was found in 2003, her face stuck carefully with sellotape in the form of a cross.

According to his earlier confession Fourniret admitted that she had screamed and struggled and broken a window so they had bound and gagged her and finally silenced her forever.

Her last words were:

"Dieu vous punira!"

In case you think I'm writing about nothing but this trial, the lighter side can be found on my other blog.

The lawyers finally goaded him into speech but he still refused to stand. It seems he doesn't like to be disturbed when he's scribbling away in his glass box.

The representatives of Fabienne Leroy's family were trying to find out about two needle marks on her forearm. In his 2004 confession he had acknowledged injecting her just once "to calm her" but there was nothing in the syringe but air.

Was he tryng to kill her by causing an embolism?

Eventually he shouted out, "Je suis en colère parce que je vous ai entendu proférer des aneries au sujet d'Estelle Mouzin."

(I'm angry because you've been talking nonsense about Estelle Mouzin).

Strange, because this young girl (abducted at the age of 9) does not feature in this trial.

The lawyer tried to force him back to the point by asking if he was practising experiments on his victims but Founiret lapsed into silence once again.

All he said was "You can't ask pardon for the unpardonnable."

Monique Olivier, on the other hand, mumbled into her microphone and changed her story - not for the first time.

They were investigating the kidnapping, rape and shooting of Fabienne Leroy in 1988.

Monique was 8 months pregnant and Fourniret persuaded the young girl to get into their car to direct them to the hospital.

"He must have told her I needed a doctor" whimpered Monique.

Instead, he drove into the country, 'forced' Monique to point a gun at her while he tied her hands and then made her lay on the ground.

According to her original confession Monique then checked that the girl was a virgin, but yesterday she claimed she refused to do it and Founiret swore at her and chased her away.

Minutes later she heard a gunshot but apparently asked no questions when she got back in the car and they drove home.

The girl had been raped and then shot in the heart. Her body was found the next day.

Fourniret has already confessed to this crime. Why does he refuse to speak now?

If Monique wasn't implicated up to her neck as well why didn't she shoot the ba****d when she had the gun in her hand?

For a less serious take on French life try my other blog.

Reading about the Fourniret trial has certainly had me searching through the dictionary this week.

The monster regards himself as something special and he refuses to speak except  'á huis clos'  - in camera. He holds up silly notices instead of talking and has written long letters implying that he's longing to tell the families all they want to know but they won't  hear a word in public.

They have even had to drag him forcibly into court because he tried to avoid attending.

However, the first important witness for the prosecution, Marie, who managed to escape and therefore bring about his arrest was able to look him in the eye and describe how she won the day.

He had persuaded her to get nto his van, then tied her hands together and pushed her into the back. She managed to free her hands and undo the sliding door. Just as she was wondering if she dare risk injury by jumping out, he pulled up for a 'Stop' sign. She took her chance and escaped - ever fearful that he would  ' me répérer' ( this could mean see her or catch her) and was picked up by a lady in a car behind.

Fourniret had done  a U turn and she recognised her attacker. The lady took down the registration number and Founiret was arrested. The judge was able to say that this young girl, aged 13 at the time, was clever enough to outwit Fourniret.

The following day saw an analysis of the letters between Monique Olivier and Fourniret while he was in prison for sex offences in 1987. She began by calling him 'mon petit taulard' - my little convict - but later used stronger words such as 'fauve' - wild animal - and tiger.

He called her his 'carpe'.

They made a pact that he would kill her previous husband if she would procure him a virgin. He felt frustrated because he hadn't had 'ce que lui revenait' (what was coming to him?*)when his wife revealed on their wedding night that she had already slept with someone else.

And so the unholy partnership began.

Monique Olivier tried to tell the court that she was just a pawn in Fourniret's game but once it was disclosed that she played an important role in the murder and rape of Isabelle - she had picked up the girl and then he had stopped them along the road brandshing a petrol can. They pretended not to know each other and he got in the back of the car. He silenced the girl by putting a scarf round her neck and she made her take 'something to calm her down.' Then they drove back to their house and carried the unconscious victim inside.

The judge dismissed Olivier's claims that she was an unwilling bystander and remarked "What is the significance of the fact that your son was born 9 months and two days after the murder of  Isabelle?

Isabelle's parents had some words for Fourniret:

Vous etes un homme petit, petit. Pas par la taille (.......) Vous etes laid a l'interieur.

You are an insignificant little man. Not in height (........) You are ugly (rotten) on the inside.

How right they are.

* If anyone bilingual can translate my guess as to the meaning of revenir in this sense I'd be grateful. My dictionary gave lots of meanings that didn't really seem relevant -including 'faire revenir la viande' - to brown meat.

And for something more light-hearted try my other blog here.