Janssen was arrested for the murder of a young couple - Shana Appeltans and Kevin Paulus - who lived near him in Loksbergen, Flemish Brabant, on the night of 1 January, 2010. Police then found links to the murder of Annick, and Janssen confessed to her murder.

It has since emerged that Janssen was identified as a serious suspect in the Van Uytsel case long before. According to a local police officer in Herk-De-Stad, Janssen had been seen acting in a predatory manner at dance clubs in Diest and had been accused by a former girlfriend of rape. He also lived directly under the mobile phone mast where investigators had traced the last phone call made by Annick. But nothing, the report says, was done with this tip.

Justice minister Stefaan De Clerck, who ordered the report, reacted furiously to the revelations, not all of which have yet been made public. "The police failed in their organisation, methodology and their treatment of information," he said. "The anger of the past comes once more to the surface."

De Clerck was also minister of justice at the time the crimes of Charleroi killer Marc Dutroux came to light, after which it was revealed that police had ignored similar evidence against Dutroux, who killed four girls and kidnapped two others.