---
category: City
summary: Knokke-Heist was a Belgian coastal municipality in West Flanders that featured
  prominently in the X-Dossier as a location where child prostitution networks operated
  during the 1970s and 1980s.
tags:
- Place
- Belgium
- Knokke-Heist
- West_Flanders
- Dutroux_Affair
---

Knokke-Heist was a Belgian coastal municipality in West Flanders that featured prominently in the [X-Dossier](/events/x-dossier/) as a location where child prostitution networks operated during the 1970s and 1980s. Witness X1 ([Regina Louf](/people/regina-louf/)) testified she was prostituted by her grandmother [Cecile Beernaert](/people/cecile-beernaert/) at a hotel-villa located at Elizabetlaan 83 in Knokke-Heist, on the boundary of the [Royal Zoute Golf Club](/places/royal-zoute-golf-club/). The golf club had been established by [Count Maurice Auguste Lippens](/people/count-maurice-auguste-lippens/) and its custodianship remained within the Lippens family through [Count Leopold Lippens](/people/count-leopold-lippens/), who served as Mayor of Knokke-Heist. X1 identified clients at the villa including [Paul Vanden Boeynants](/people/paul-vanden-boeynants/), Maurice Lippens, and [Jean-Michel Nihoul](/people/jean-michel-nihoul/).[^1]

Testimonies from X1 and her two childhood friends, along with X4, suggested families in Knokke-Heist were selling their children into a child prostitution ring during this period. The area around the golf club was identified as a venue for both the initial prostitution of children and later sadomasochist sex parties attended by Belgium's political and business elite.[^1]

[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.