Mother, 41, accused of murdering two newborn babies found in her freezer in the south of France

This is the first picture of the woman accused of the murder of two babies whose bodies were found in her freezer in the south of France.

Aurelie Samprez was arrested last week following a tip off that she had hidden the two tiny corpses in her kitchen fridge in the provencal village of Bedoin.

The 41-year-old mother of three was charged on Friday with two counts of child murder.

A postmortem has concluded that the two baby girls had been born healthy and had lived and breathed before their violent death, it has emerged.

A neighbour described Samprez as ‘severe’.

She told MailOnline: ‘I do not know this woman very well but I can tell you she is severe.

‘She has three other children, three girls aged 18, 16 and eight.

‘Everyone is shocked by what the police found in her freezer.’

The bodies were found at the home of the 41-year-old last Thursday in the southern village of Bedoin after police received a telephone tip-off from an unknown man.

Prosecutor Florence Galtier, in the southern town of Avignon, said, citing an autopsy: ‘The two children were not stillborn.’ 

One of the babies had suffered a blow which left ‘cranial and intracranial’ bruising, believed to be the cause of death.   

The prosecutor said it was not clear if the injuries were the result of violence, a fall, lack of care or something else. 

Authorities have yet to establish if the girls were twins or are unrelated. It is unclear if the man who made the tip-off is connected to the case. 

Their bodies were found at the home of the 41-year-old last Thursday in the southern village of Bedoin (pictured) after police received a telephone tip-off from an unknown man

There have been similar cases in France over the years.  

Last March, a woman in her 30s was placed under investigation after two frozen babies were found at her home.

In 2015, five bodies were found in a similar case which saw the mother handed an eight-year jail term.

Another case which went down in French legal annals was that of Veronique Courjault, given an eight-year sentence in 2009 for killing three of her newborn children.

The bodies of two of the children were discovered in a freezer in the home she shared with her husband in South Korea.