A woman has been jailed for nine years in France after being convicted of suffocating eight of her newborn babies to death.
Married Dominique Cottrez, 51, originally told investigators she feared she had the children from a long, incestuous relationship with her dad.
But tests showed her husband Pierre-Marie Cottrez had in fact fathered the babies and in a dramatic turnaround she admitted in court on Monday she had made up the story.
After five hours of deliberation, the jury decided her judgement was impaired at the time of the killings near the Belgian border between 1989 and 2000.
They convicted the housewife and former health worker of seven counts of first degree murders and one count of second degree murder for the first infant she killed.
Most of the killings took place in her bathroom after she secretly gave birth to the children on towels.
Her crimes were uncovered in July 2010 when a new owner moved into her parents' home in the northern French village of Villers-au-Tertre and found the bodies of two infants wrapped in plastic bags buried in the garden.
Police then discovered six other tiny corpses in a tank in the garage of the property.
She could have been jailed for 18 years, as the prosecution wanted, but she was sentenced to half that term after her lawyer said she suffered from psychological problems and neuroses.
Visibly relieved at the verdict in the Douai court, Cottrez hugged her husband and two daughters, Emeline, 28, and Virginie, 27. The pair had implored the court not to send their mother back to jail.
Cottrez spent two years in prison at the beginning of the investigation, and was then released in 2012.
Her lawyer Marie-Helene Carlier said Cottrez had been "destroyed" after a midwife criticised her for being overweight during the birth of her first child.
"We never pleaded innocence, only distress," said Ms Carlier.
Cottrez was able to hide the pregnancies from her doctors as well as her husband and two daughters partly due to her obesity, as she weighed up to 130 kg (286lb) while pregnant.
"I did all this alone, I admit it," she told the court, though she added she believed her husband was aware of what was happening.
Married Dominique Cottrez, 51, originally told investigators she feared she had the children from a long, incestuous relationship with her dad.
But tests showed her husband Pierre-Marie Cottrez had in fact fathered the babies and in a dramatic turnaround she admitted in court on Monday she had made up the story.
After five hours of deliberation, the jury decided her judgement was impaired at the time of the killings near the Belgian border between 1989 and 2000.
They convicted the housewife and former health worker of seven counts of first degree murders and one count of second degree murder for the first infant she killed.
Most of the killings took place in her bathroom after she secretly gave birth to the children on towels.
Her crimes were uncovered in July 2010 when a new owner moved into her parents' home in the northern French village of Villers-au-Tertre and found the bodies of two infants wrapped in plastic bags buried in the garden.
Police then discovered six other tiny corpses in a tank in the garage of the property.
She could have been jailed for 18 years, as the prosecution wanted, but she was sentenced to half that term after her lawyer said she suffered from psychological problems and neuroses.
Visibly relieved at the verdict in the Douai court, Cottrez hugged her husband and two daughters, Emeline, 28, and Virginie, 27. The pair had implored the court not to send their mother back to jail.
Cottrez spent two years in prison at the beginning of the investigation, and was then released in 2012.
Her lawyer Marie-Helene Carlier said Cottrez had been "destroyed" after a midwife criticised her for being overweight during the birth of her first child.
"We never pleaded innocence, only distress," said Ms Carlier.
Cottrez was able to hide the pregnancies from her doctors as well as her husband and two daughters partly due to her obesity, as she weighed up to 130 kg (286lb) while pregnant.
"I did all this alone, I admit it," she told the court, though she added she believed her husband was aware of what was happening.
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