Dominique Cottrez, 45, was charged with murder after police found the skeletal remains of eight infants in plastic bin bags buried in a garden and hidden under household clutter in a garage.

"She doesn't have to carry this on her conscience any more, and that's a kind of relief," her lawyer Frank Berton told reporters, adding that she was "tired, worn out and battered down" after her questioning.

Berton said Cottrez would undergo psychological tests to determine whether she was fully responsible for her actions, warning that prosecutors may have been "a bit quick" to say she was fully aware of what she had done.

He praised his client for rapidly telling investigators what they needed to know, immediately telling them about six more bodies after they questioned her on two they had already found.

"For her part, she's said what is essential," he said. "To analyse why it happened, that she doesn't know."

Berton also argued that given that the string of killings began up to two decades ago, it may be impossible to prosecute Cottrez for five or six of them, because of the statue of limitations.

Dominique Cottrez was charged with the "deliberate homicides of minors under the age of 15". Her husband was charged with "failure to report a crime and harbouring corpses".