Four children and their mother 'murdered' near Paris, as police arrest father after he 'went on the run'
26 December 2023, 09:56 | Updated: 26 December 2023, 12:21
Four children and their mother have been found dead near Paris, and police have arrested their father.
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The children, who were aged between nine months and ten years, were found dead in a flat in the town of Meaux, 25 miles north-east of the French capital, on the evening of Christmas Day.
The other children were seven and four years old, and the mother was 35.
There was no sign of a break-in at the flat and the father was missing.
Prosecutor Jean Bladier said: "Around 9 p.m., the bodies of five people were discovered in an apartment located in Meaux, after the alert had been given by relatives concerned about the lack of response from the occupants of the premises".
A neighbour who was supposed to have dinner with the family alerted police after seeing blood on the door handle of their flat's front door.
Officers arrested the father, 33, on Tuesday morning in Sevran, French media reported, about 17 miles from Meaux.
He was already known to police in the area. Local media reported that he suffers from psychological problems.
A police source told Le Parisien that the man left the apartment around 8:07 p.m. then went to Sevran to see his father, and then went to his grandmother in Garges-lès-Gonesse, a suburb of Paris.
The man had been placed in a psychiatric hospital in 2017, and attempted suicide that year, the prosecutor said.
The couple had been together for 14 years and had known each other since high school, Mr Bladier said.
None of the family's names were released, according to French law protecting minors who are victims of crimes.
Authorities have opened an investigation into five homicides, and the suspect will undergo psychiatric examination to determine the next steps, the prosecutor said.
Several children have been killed in the Paris region in recent months.
A 41-year-old man killed his three daughters in the south-eastern suburbs of the capital in late November. He then turned himself in to police.
A police officer killed his three daughters and then took his own life in the north-eastern outskirts of Paris in October.
