Killer mother faces life over freezer babies

A FRENCH mother is facing life in prison after admitting killing three of her newborn babies.

In a case that has gripped France, Véronique Courjault, 41, has said she strangled two children in 2002 and 2003 after giving birth at home while living in South Korea and put their bodies in a freezer.

She had been "overwhelmed" at the idea of having a third and fourth child.

Today she pleaded diminished responsibility and admitted killing a third child in 1999 while living in France, disposing of the body in a fireplace.

Prosecutors say she should be convicted of murder and jailed for life .

Courjault wiped away tears as she appeared in court in Tours after two-and-a-half years on remand. She claimed: "I am no danger to society." Psychologists have said she is "speaking freely about what she did, making it clear she wanted to change", says the defence.

Courjault is said to have kept her pregnancies secret from her engineer husband Jean-Louis with whom she has two sons, aged 12 and 14. He was often away on lengthy business trips.

He found the corpses in the freezer when she was in France.

The Courjaults denied having anything to do with the discovery until DNA tests proved they were the parents.

Mrs Courjault eventually confessed telling psychologists she had not felt the babies move in her womb and adding: "For me they were never children - it was a part of me that I killed.'

Mr Courjault was cleared of any involvement. Outside the courtroom today, he said: "I am very, very tense. I am here to support the woman I love."

Courjault's sons have visited her in prison, where she works in the library.

The case continues.