French serial killer gets life sentence

Self-confessed killer Michel Fourniret and his wife Monique Olivier were sentenced to life in prison yesterday in one of the worst serial murder cases in recent French history.

The couple showed no reaction after the court in northern France found Fourniret, dubbed the "Ogre of the Ardennes", guilty of killing and raping or attempting to rape seven women and girls aged between 12 and 22 from 1987.

The case, among the most gruesome seen in France since World War II, helped lead to a shake-up of the way French police investigate serial murders including better coordination between different authorities.