French mother charged with killing eight of her babies
A French mother, Dominique Cottrez, has been charged by with murdering eight newborn babies in the village of Villers-au-Tertre, near Lille .
The 45-year-old nursing assistant, who also has two grown-up daughters, is said to have been "systematically killing her babies since 1988".
If convicted, she faces 15 years in prison in what has become France's worst ever case of infanticide.
Her husband Pierre-Marie, 47, a local council handyman, has been questioned but no charges have been made against him for concealing the bodies of the babies, which were all found wrapped in plastic bags.
Mrs Cottrez appeared before an investigating magistrate today where she was charged.
Investigators said she had confessed to killing ten babies.
The first discoveries were made after the new owners of a house in Villers-au-Tertre found human bones in their garden.
They alerted police on Saturday, who found the remains of two children hidden at around their home and garden.
After tracking the previous occupants to another house just half a mile away, they found the bodies of six more children hidden at that property.
Detectives using sniffer dogs said they had so far found a total of eight bodies of newborn babies wrapped in plastic bags at both houses.
According to Le Figaro newspaper, two of the bodies discovered had been hidden in the first house for more than 20 years.
It said: "According to police sources, the mother had been systematically killing her babies since 1988.
"It appears she had been hiding her pregnancies from her husband."
Police said the first house belonged to the parents of the babies' mother.
Eric Vaillant, public prosecutor, said: "We have found eight bodies of newborn babies in different locations in Villers-au Tertre.
"Two people, who are the parents of the children, are in custody."
A detective working on the investigation said: "We searched the first premises and the garden following information received from the new owners.
"What is certain is that all the newborn babies found had the same parents.
"They were stuffed inside plastic bags and then buried or hidden.
"Our fear is that there are still more bodies to be discovered."
Police said this morning that two dog handlers and five sniffer dogs were still working at both houses.
Daniel Collignon, the village's former mayor, said: "I'm still in shock."
Neighbours also reacted with astonishment to the news. One local man said: "They are normal people, who even have a role in the community. It's incredible."
Jean-Henri Martines, who lives in the village, said: "People are speechless at what has occurred.
"We all knew this couple. What has happened is unthinkable. No one knows how to react. We are in shock."
Another neighbour in his 50s said: "These are attractive, helpful, polite and courteous people.
"They never did anything to suggest that they might be capable of abnormal behaviour.
"The husband was even elected to the town council," he added.
The couple also have two grown-up daughters and were grandparents, said another local resident.
One teenage girl in the village said: "Their daughters are nice girls and the mother is a simple, quiet woman who wouldn't hurt a fly."
Earlier this year French mother Celine Lesage was jailed for 15 years after admitting to killing six of her newborn babies and hiding the bodies in her cellar.
Lesage, 38, has confessed to concealing the pregnancies, then giving birth alone before strangling two infants and suffocating four others.
She told the court that she could not explain why she had killed the babies.
Last June another Frenchwoman, Veronique Courjault, was sentenced to eight years in jail after admitting to killing three of her own babies, burning one corpse and hiding the others in the family freezer.
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