Seventh victim of Cyprus serial killer found Published duration 12 June 2019

image copyright Reuters image caption Authorities have been criticised for the way the case has been handled

Police in Cyprus have discovered the seventh victim of what is believed to be the island's first serial killer.

The body of six-year-old Sierra Granze was found at the bottom of lake Memi, southwest of the capital Nicosia.

"Human remains have been found and forensic pathologists are on the scene," a police spokesman said.

An army captain, identified as Nikos Metaxas, was arrested in April on suspicion of the killings.

Metaxas was taken to the lake after he gave more detailed information about how he disposed of the body, the Cyrus newspaper Philenews reported.

He had previously admitted to throwing the child's body in the lake after murdering her mother Mary Rose Tiburcio.

Mataxas is believed to have killed five adult women - all foreign workers - and the young daughters of two of the victims. It is thought that all of his victims have now been found.

Cypriot authorities are facing accusations of not fully investigating when the women were first reported missing.

The case has also raised questions over the conditions that housemaids work under in Cyprus, which some critics have described as akin to modern slavery.