Attorney Jef Vermassen received an anonymous letter from a former gendarme about the case of the Brabant killers, Vermassen said at a debate in Brussels on Tuesday and confirmed on Wednesday to Het Nieuwsblad daily. In the letter, the former law enforcer explained that he and his colleagues did not receive an authorisation to go after the killers after the attacks on the Delhaize de Braine-l'Alleud and Overijse stores in 1985. "I’m going to send the letter to the investigating judge,” he said.
The ex-gendarme said he was at work on the 27th of September 1985 when he and his colleagues learned that a burglary had been committed at Delhaize de Braine-l'Alleud. They were in the highway police and had a powerful Porsche as well as a BMW, both fast enough to go after the assailants’ Golf GTI, he explained.
"But we did not receive an authorisation to go after them,” the former gendarme said in his letter. “We had to stick to our assignment: conduct alcohol tests in the area.” The same thing occurred after the attack at Overijse. “We were not able to go after them in our Porsche,” he said. “We were prohibited from doing so by our superiors.”
Jef Vermassen said he would convey this “tip” to the investigators and the judge. “This is useful and important information,” he said. “I do not know if the explanations are correct, but I think it’s worth looking into. If it’s true that would mean gendarmes were ordered to do nothing.”
The Brussels Times
