France’s female Hannibal Lecter cooks husband’s heart, nose, genitals

A 71-year-old Frenchwoman is to undergo psychiatric testing after killing her husband and cooking his heart, nose and genitals.

The poster for The Silence of the Lambs

The woman was arrested on 22 May in the northern French town of Longwy, according to a judicial source who described her as "the female Hannibal Lecter", after the fictional cannibal in thriller The Silence of the Lambs.

The woman killed her 80-year-old husband with a kitchen mortar that she used for grinding spices then cooked his heart, nose and genitals in a pan.

“But we don't know if she ate them," the source said.

Her lawyer, Caroline Depretz, said the woman suffered from delusions.

"Obviously it was a fit of madness," she said.

The woman was being held in a prison psychiatric unit on Friday and was to undergo tests to determine if she can be held responsible for her actions.