French couple on trial for murder of seven young women
Michel Fourniret is charged with killing seven women
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Thursday, 27, Mar 2008 01:27
The self-confessed French serial killer Michel Fourniret has gone on trial today accused of the rape and murder of seven young women.
Mr Fourniret, 65, has previously admitted enlisting his wife Monique Olivier to help him attract the women who were then raped and killed, prosecutors claim.
Ms Olivier, 59, faces charges relating to the murder of one of the women and complicity in four other crimes.
Her husband is accused of raping and murdering six young women in France and Belgium between 1987 and 2001.
Police became aware of the couple's actions after a 13-year-old girl Mr Fourniret allegedly attempted to abduct in Belgium escaped and raised the alarm in 2003.
The case has provoked mass public interest in France and Belgium with Ms Olivier being dubbed the "Ogre of the Ardennes".
Prosecutors claim that Mr Fourniret and Ms Olivier made a pact, while he was serving a prison sentence for sexual assault, that she would help him lure the young women if he killed her ex-husband.