A German woman has been convicted of killing four of her newborn babies over a ten-year period.

Andrea Göppner, 45, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the deaths, after the babies' remains were found wrapped in towels and plastic bags last year.

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Andrea Göppner has been sentenced to 14 years in jail for the manslaughter of four of her newborns. Photo: Daniel Karmann/AFP

It is believed Göppner gave birth to eight children between 2003 and 2013, the years when the deaths allegedly took place, the court heard.

The bodies of eight children were found inside a Wallenfels apartment where Göppner lived with her estranged husband, Johann Göppner, following a tip-off from a neighbour.

Charges were only brought in four cases because one of the babies was found to be stillborn and three were so badly decomposed it was hard to establish whether they had been alive when they were born, The Guardian reports.

In court, Göppner confessed to her involvement in the deaths of up to four of the eight infants.

Her 55-year-old estranged husband was acquitted of charges of accessory to murder due to insufficient evidence, a German court said.

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Prosecutors were unable to pursue murder charges for four infants because one was stillborn and it could not be determined if another three were viable at birth. Photo: AFP

Prosecutors at Coburg city court demanded that Göppner be sentenced to life.

"She certainly had acted egotistically and selfishly, but there was also a motive, which was to preserve the family," judge Christoph Gillot said in handing down his decision.

"When a case like this is tried, you suddenly have a lot of people who know what the right thing to do is - that a supposed 'horror mother' should be locked away forever," the judge said.

"But we first must try to understand this behaviour," he said.

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