Belgian policeman Patrick van Brussel was a hero. Or so he thought, after successfully tracking down one of Belgium’s most notorious gangsters in Brazil. 'Do whatever he takes to capture Patrick Haemers,' his superiors had thundered at him.

And as one of Belgium’s top policemen, who loved his work, he was happy to take up the challenge.

The Belgian authorities had been humiliated by the 1989 kidnapping, by the Haemers gang, of ex-Prime Minister Paul Vandenboeynants. And the gang leader, Patrick Haemers, had had the effrontery to carry out the kidnapping, and successfully obtain the ransom, when he was already on the run from the Belgian police.

Incredibly, Patrick Haemers had escaped from police custody two years previously, taken refuge in Brazil, and then returned to Belgium clandestinely to carry out this extraordinary kidnapping.

Patrick Van Brussel succeeded at his task. Brilliantly. But he was not treated as a hero. And as he made clear in an interview, 10 years later, to “Humo” magazine, he was never supposed to have captured Haemers.

Neither had he been allowed to find out who was behind the gang, and gave them orders. But for Patrick Van Brussel the reasons were clear. The violent hold-ups had been committed to scare and destabilize the Belgium population..

Patrick Van Brussels died at the age of 41 in sordid circumstances. He lived alone in a squalid apartment where the floor was covered with beer bottles. He went to his grave an embittered man, disgusted at the way that he had been treated by the Belgian authorities.

But before he died he leaked, to a Belgian journalist, an extraordinary document. This document contains reports of the contacts between Van Brussel and his informers. And shows clearly why Patrick van Brussel believed that there was an organization behind the Haemers gang, and that their motivations were political.

The document also mentions the Brabant Killings and clearly suggest that the same people were behind the Brabant Killings, and the hold-ups/kidnapping performed by the Haemers gang.

Understanding this document, which is now available on the internet, is key to trying to unravel many of the secrets behind the Brabant Killers.

It also shines a light on the role played by ex-P2 member Elio Ciolini, including perverse acts that he carried out with a Haemers gang member: paying two prostitutes to have sex with dogs.