(Other posts on the lighter side of life to be found here)

This week, according to the local paper, Fourniret started speaking and it was difficult to stop him.

When the news first hit the headlines and there was talk of finding bodies in a Chateau he had once owned I remember wondering how he could have lived in such apparent luxury.

The answer came this week.

He had been in prison with a certain Jean-Pierre Hellegouarch and the pair had become friendly. Jean-Pierre promised Fourniret a share of his booty from a previous crime if  he would 'rescue' it before the rest of the gang claimed it.

Fourniret agreed but when he was released he killed Jean-Pierre's wife and took the 80 kilos of gold for himself. When J-Pierre appeared as a witness he explained how he had tracked them down over a year later and even fired a couple of shots at him but missed.

In his testimony he described his wife, aged 30 at the time, and said there was no need to kill her to steal the gold.

Fourniret decided to speak about his crimes, relishing the details and not sparing the feelings of his victims' families.

He likened himself to a poacher, hunting for prey but despite his verbosity and precision he was tripped up over the case of Marie, who escaped his clutches. He tried to say that he let her escape because he wanted to be arrested to put an end to his activities.

It was pointed out that her wrists were bleeding because he had tied her so tightly. It was obvious he was trying to twist the truth to suit himself.

As for Monique Olivier, the court tried to come to a conclusion about her mentality and personality.  A psychologist for the defence wasn't able to testlfy but several experts for the prosecution claimed that there was no evidence of mental illness, that she knew perfectly well what she was doing in helping her husband and showed not the slightest compassion for their victims. They dismissed her claims of being a passive slave to his will.