French couple arrested after the bodies of EIGHT newborn babies found hidden in their home and garden

In one of the worst cases of infanticide in recent history, Dominique Cottrez, 45, is expected to be charged with multiple-manslaughter and faces up to 15 years in prison.

It is thought that she has confessed to the crimes after eight tiny corpses were found around the home she shared with her husband Pierre-Marie, a 47-year-old handyman who works for the local council.

If convicted, he will also face prison for failing to report the crimes, and for helping to conceal the bodies, which were all found wrapped in plastic bags.

Both were described by a neighbour as 'pillars of the local community' where they lived with one of their grown up daughters, and a young grandson.

'Dominique is a lovely women who was devoted to other family members, and especially children,' said the neighbour.

'She cared for her father, Oscar, until his recent death but we had no inclination that she had been pregnant since her daughters were born in the 1980s.

'She's a stout women, originally from a farming family, so it may be that she was able to conceal her pregnancies.'

It is believed that the killings started in 1988, and it was only a chance discovery of two of the bodies on Saturday which led to a judicial investigation being launched.

'The macabre suspicion is that this has been going on for 22 years with nobody in authority being any the wiser,' said a judicial source.

'If it wasn't for somebody finding some bones while digging a pond and becoming suspicious then nobody would have known about these crimes.'