Mother and four children found dead in Paris apartment on Christmas Day

The partner of a mother who was found dead with her four children in Paris has been arrested.

The five bodies were found late on Christmas Day in an apartment in Meaux on the outskirts of Paris. Authorities described the crime as an “exceptionally violent crime.”

The children's father was arrested on Tuesday and is the main suspect.

Meaux prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier said the mother and her two daughters, aged seven and ten, were stabbed several times during the night from Sunday to Monday.

The couple's two sons, aged nine months and four years, suffocated or drowned, he added.

The prosecutor described a small, blood-stained apartment in “extreme disarray.”

The suspect, a 33-year-old man, was arrested on Tuesday outside his father's house northeast of the French capital, the prosecutor said.

The suspect had already stabbed his partner once, the prosecutor said, in 2019 when she was pregnant with their older son.

The investigation was discontinued because he was declared mentally incompetent at the time of the attack, he added.

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The suspect was admitted to a psychiatric clinic in 2017 and attempted suicide that same year, the prosecutor said.

Authorities say they are investigating five counts of murder and that the suspect will undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine further action.

The mayor of Meaux, Jean-Francois Cope, said: “The number of victims is horrific. An entire family was killed and stabbed in cruel conditions. It is pure horror.”

Mayor Cope also called for coordinated action to combat violence by people with mental health issues and protect victims before it is too late.

“I understand the feeling of helplessness in such a case, but at a national level we need to thoroughly examine and consider the consequences of mental health problems for the families of these people,” he said.

A neighbour of the family said the local community had “a knot in its stomach when [they] find out what happened”.

“We can’t even imagine the scene,” they added.