French woman sentenced to 15 years for killing six babies

A mother who killed six of her newborn babies and hid their bodies in bin liners has been sentenced to 15 years in prison by a court in northern France.

Céline Lesage, 38, was found guilty of suffocating four babies and strangling two others after giving birth to them in secret between 2000 and 2007.

Though she admitted to the murders, she told a court in the Normandy town of Coutances she had no explanation for her crimes. "Yes, I am guilty. I am aware that I killed my babies … but it's too hard. I horrify myself so much that I am hiding from myself," she said yesterday morning.

On the first day of the trial Lesage, often in tears during the testimony of her friends and family, said she hoped the hearing would help her "understand and be understood". The prison sentence indicated the jury had decided her acts were committed in cold blood.

"The deeds were clearly premeditated," argued prosecutor Eric Bouillard during the trial. He said that Lesage was "in some way in denial of her guilt".

Defence lawyer Véronique Carré had argued that her client, though guilty, was far from the "cold manipulative being" portrayed by the prosecution. "She is guilty – she has always told you that," she said. "She must be punished, but also treated."

The grim secrets of Lesage's hidden pregnancies came to light in 2007, when her partner, Luc Margueritte, found the decomposing bodies of six babies in the cellar of their home in Valognes, near Cherbourg. One of them was that of his own child, conceived without his knowledge and killed by Lesage after she gave birth standing up in their bathroom.

The other five babies had been born in secret during their mother's previous relationship, which lasted from 1989 until 2006. Pascal Catherine, who told the court he had often suspected but never knew for sure that Lesage was pregnant, is the father of the couple's 14-year-old son.

Lesage, who told the court she had been too scared to tell anyone she was pregnant, said she was afraid that her partners and her parents would react badly to the news. But she insisted the killings had not been premeditated. "The linen, the bin liners and the string were next to me. I reached out my arm," she told the court, seeking to explain her almost automatic reaction to the successive births.

Because of her inability to fully explain to the court her motivations, several psychological experts told the court they feared the chances of her reoffending were high.

Lawyers for Lesage said she would not appeal against the verdict.

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