Woman taken into custody after police discover bodies of five apparently stillborn babies in basement of block of flats

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Finnish police have found the bodies of five apparently stillborn babies in the basement of a block of flats and taken a 35-year-old woman into custody.

Officers made the discovery after being called out to investigate a strong smell emanating from the cellar of a building in Oulu, in the north-west of the country.

The woman turned herself in and said the bodies were those of three stillborn babies she had given birth to between five and 10 years ago, a police statement said.

She was unable to explain the discrepancy in the number of bodies.

Police said the precise age of the infants could not be established, but they appeared to be "foetuses nearing maturity whose death dates back several years".