Police have detained a French couple after the body of a newborn baby was found in their freezer, a prosecutor said on Tuesday.
It was the fourth such case of apparent infanticide to come to light in France in the past two years.
Prosecutor Marie-Sophie Monet told reporters the newest case was discovered over the weekend in the north-west region of Brittany, when the grandfather of the dead child found its body by chance in the couple's freezer.
A post mortem suggested the baby had died shortly after its birth. "There were signs it had been hit ... and there were signs of strangulation," Monet said.
The mother told police that she gave birth last July but could not remember what had happened to the baby. Her husband said he wasn't aware his wife had been pregnant, a source close to the investigation said.
Earlier this month a French woman, Veronique Courjault, was ordered to stand trial after she admitted strangling three of her new born babies — one in France and two in South Korea.
In August 2007, the bodies of three newborn babies were found in the house of a woman in south eastern France and in October, the bodies of six newborn babies were discovered in town in the north of France.
