Paris - A court in the northern French city of Charleville- Mezieres found confessed serial killer Michel Fourniret guilty of murdering seven young women and gave him the maximum allowable sentence of life in prison with no possibility of early release.

The court also convicted his accomplice Monique Olivier of complicity in several of the killings and also sentenced her to life in prison, with a minimum term of 28 years.

Fourniret, 66, had admitted committing several of the killings, which took place between 1987 and 2003, and is suspected of having raped and murdered up to eight other young women.

He and Olivier met while he was in prison on another sexual abuse charge and they formed a partnership upon his release. She helped him abduct and often rape and kill the victims, who were chosen because they seemed virginal.

In his plea, the public prosecutor called Fourniret and Olivier "cold-blooded and gruesome serial killers of the kind our country has never before seen." (dpa)