Jos Brech, the man suspected of killing 11-year-old Nicky Verstappen over 20 years ago, was known as a sex offender and had been treated after molesting several boys, the Limburger and AD newspapers reported on Friday.

Police said earlier this week that Brech, now aged 55, is their main suspect for the killing in 1998, following dna tests on 15,000 men in Limburg.

The Limburger said Brech told police three years after the killing that he had been treated for a ‘sex crime’. Police have already said he was questioned twice in the investigation into Nicky’s death – once after he was spotted near the scene where Nicky’s body had been dumped and then again twice, three years later.

During questioning in 2001, Brech said he had committed a sex offence involving children in 1985 and had undergone therapy. The case was dropped and there is nothing about it in police files, the Limburger said.

However, local paper reports write of a 22-year-old man from Simpleveld, where Brech lived, having molested two boys aged 10.

The AD said on Friday that the police warned scouts organisations in 2002 Brech had a history of sexual offences and that he formed a danger for children.

Confrontation

The claim is made by Frank Peters, a former police officer who has been a member of the Heerlen scout troop for 57 years. ‘This is a man that you don’t want in the scouts.’ Peters claims he was told by a member of the police team reinvestigating Nicky’s death in 2002.

Peters says he confronted Brech with the warning and that he confessed to being attracted to boys. Brech left the scouts movement in 2002.

Brech, a known survivalist, has been officially missing since April, after leaving for France last year. An international warrant has been issued for his arrest.