The mystery disappearance of an entire French family who left behind a blood-stained home "frozen in time" was solved on Monday after a brother-in-law confessed to killing them over an inheritance dispute involving gold coins.

It is thought he killed the four with a crowbar and dismembered the bodies before burning them.

In a case that has transfixed France, the Troadec family went missing from their bloodstained home in a suburb of the western city of Nantes more than two weeks ago.

Pascal and Brigitte Troadec, both aged around 50, their son Sebastien, 21, and his sister Charlotte, 18, had not been seen since 16 February.