Andrea Goeppner was charged with four of the murders after the babies’ remains were found wrapped in towels and plastic bags last year. Asked how many of the eight she confessed to killing, her defence lawyer Till Wagler said, "It could have been two, three or four."

Prosecutors were unable to pursue murder charges for the other four infants, as one was found to have been stillborn and three were badly decomposed. The grisly remains were uncovered last year in Goeppner’s apartment in the town of Wallenfels.

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The woman’s estranged husband, Johann Goeppner is charged with complicity for failing to stop the killings, which took place between 2003 and 2013. In her confession, Andrea 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 suffocate any baby that moved or cried, then place the body in a plastic bag or containers and hide it in the apartment. The pair had each brought two children into the marriage, and the couple conceived three more surviving children together, the court heard. Even though they did not want more children, they used no contraceptives, and Andrea was almost constantly pregnant.