CHARLEVILLE-MEZIERES, France (AP) – A French court on Wednesday
convicted Michel Fourniret of killing seven girls and young women
and sentenced him to life in prison – and gave his wife a life term
for helping him in some of the murders.

Fourniret, 66, was given the maximum sentence by the jury in
Charleville-Mezieres in northeast France. In a particularly severe
sentence for a French court, he cannot be considered for parole
before serving 30 years behind bars.

His wife, Monique Olivier, 59, was convicted of complicity in
four of the murders and sentenced to life in prison. She must serve
at least 28 years before she can be considered for early release.

The court ordered them put on public lists of sex offenders.

The verdict closes a two-month trial that riveted France and
nearby Belgium, where one of the victims was killed.

The young women, aged 12 to 21, were strangled, shot or stabbed
with a screwdriver between 1987 and 2001 to feed what prosecutors
called Fourniret’s obsession for virgins.

The lead prosecutor called Olivier “a witch,” while
Fourniret’s court-appointed defense lawyer described him as
“indefensible.” Fourniret refused counsel and remained silent
through most of the proceedings.

Lawyers for the couple had said they did not plan to appeal in
the event of a conviction. Prosecutors contend that Olivier helped
Fourniret track down virgins to feed his morbid fantasies.

Belgian police detained Fourniret in June 2003 after his bungled
kidnapping of a 13-year-old girl. The girl gave authorities his
license plate number after she managed to unbind her hands and
escape from the back of Fourniret’s van.

Belgium extradited wife Olivier to France in 2005, and Fourniret
in 2006. Judicial officials in both countries decided the case
should be tried in France because six of the victims were French
citizens.

Investigators suspect Fourniret may also have been involved in
several other murders.

The Fourniret case has drawn comparisons with that of Belgium’s
notorious pedophile Marc Dutroux, who was sentenced to life in
prison in 2004 for a series of child kidnappings, rapes and
murders.

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