French couple face trial for serial killings

By Thierry Leveque

PARIS (Reuters) - A self-confessed killer dubbed the "Ogre of the Ardennes" faces trial on Thursday for raping and murdering seven young women with the help of his wife in one of the worst serial murder cases in recent French history.

Michel Fourniret, 65, has admitted killing seven women in the heavily wooded Ardennes region of northern France and Belgium over a 14-year period between 1987 and 2001.

His wife, Monique Olivier, 59, is accused of complicity in the murder of five of the women but has said she acted under the influence of Fourniret.

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

The couple, linked by what prosecutors call a "criminal pact", became acquainted after Fourniret placed an advertisement for correspondents while serving a prison sentence for sex crimes in the 1980s.

If convicted, they face life imprisonment.

Fourniret, described by investigators as narcissistic, authoritarian and manipulative, has previously said he would not apologise to relatives of his victims but that he should face the death penalty.

"I dream of a guillotine whose blade would be controlled by a rope long enough so that all the people who have something against me can join together and eliminate me. I owe them that," he told investigators.