The barrister supposes that the killer bottled up his frustrations until he exploded last Friday.

Mr Vermassen points to the very targeted nature of the attack: "This was no random slaying."

"He selected children as his target. This means the man is experiencing a problem that is linked to children, possibly access to children. It can be no coincidence that he targeted children so specifically in this way."

“Going through hell”

The Flemish Health Care Minister Veerle Heeren (Flemish Christian democrat) was clearly stunned when she arrived at the scene on Friday. She said that she was shocked both “as a minister and as a mother”.

Heeren stressed that the incident would be thoroughly investigated.

She underlined that Flemish child day care centres meet countless international safety norms: "If the investigation throws up the need for additional measures, we will take them" she told newsmen.

"Safety measures include rules on access to child day care centres. After the investigation, these will be reassessed too. Centres like these must remain safe havens for children. We don’t want to turn them into prisons."

Later in the day Heeren also met with relatives of those killed and injured.

The Dendermonde centre is being closed for a week. The child care agency Kind en Gezin said that all parents would be contacted on Saturday.

The Belgian Interior Minister Guido De Padt (Flemish liberal), who also attended the scene, was one of many Belgian politicians to express his indignation at what has happened. De Padt said his thoughts were with the families who were "going through hell".

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