German Mum Admits Murdering Her Children

A German woman on trial in one of Germany's worst infanticide cases has confessed to killing several of her babies, but said she could not remember how many.

Andrea Goeppner, 45, is charged with four out of a possible eight babies' murders after their remains were found wrapped in towels and plastic bags last year in a case that has horrified the country.

Asked how many of the babies Goeppner confessed to killing, defence lawyer Till Wagler said: "It could have been two, three or four."

Prosecutors have been unable to pursue murder charges for the other four infants, because one was stillborn and the others were so badly decomposed that it was uncertain they would have been alive at birth.

The remains of the babies were found last year in Goeppner's apartment in the small Bavarian town of Wallenfels.

Her estranged husband, Johann Goeppner, 55, is charged with complicity for failing to stop the killings, which took place between 2003 and 2013.

In her confession, read out by her lawyer, the mother said she had given birth to each of the eight babies at home alone and had wrapped every infant in a hand towel.

She would immediately suffocate any baby that moved or cried, and then put the body in a plastic bag or containers and hid it in the apartment, said the defence lawyer.

The couple, who had two children each from previous marriages and three surviving children, did not want more children but did not use contraception.

State prosecutors accused Goeppner of showing "sexual egoism, indifference and callousness".

"She sought simply to remain sexually active without any thought about the consequences or the value of a newborn child," they said.

Mr Goeppner described his estranged wife as a chronic liar and compulsive shopper who stole from her mother and her children.

A verdict is expected next Wednesday.