France is braced for one of the most gruesome trials in its history when a self-confessed serial killer will recount how he tracked and murdered seven virgins with the help of his wife.

Michel Fourniret, 65, dubbed “the Ogre of the Ardennes”, will enter court in Charleville-Mezières, in eastern France, on charges of murdering the young women in France and Belgium over a 16-year period.

His wife Monique Olivier, 59, will appear alongside him, accused of luring victims into his clutches and then watching as he raped and killed them. She is charged with one count of murder and four of complicity.

Fourniret has shown no remorse for his alleged crimes, prosecutors say, while one girl who escaped from the couple said he boasted that he was “far better” than Marc Dutroux, the Belgian paedophile and serial killer.

The couple are suspected of a series of other murders, including that of Joanna Parrish, 20, a British student found dead in Burgundy in 1990.

Investigators say that Fourniret is planning to use the courthouse as a platform to parade on before the world's media. Fourniret, who has admitted the seven murders, has said that he will not apologise for his crimes and has made a series of bizarre requests, demanding, for instance, that women on the jury certify that they were virgins at marriage.

Detectives say that behind the boastful façade, Fourniret, a bespectacled chess player who likes to quote Russian literature, is concerned that the trial may delve into things he would prefer to hide, notably his problem with premature ejaculation.

If found guilty, Fourniret faces a life sentence. Ms Olivier could get the same punishment if prosecutors can show that she took pleasure in the killings.

The couple met in 1986 when Fourniret, who was serving seven years for rape, placed an advertisement in a Catholic magazine seeking a pen pal. Ms Olivier replied, and when Fourniret was released they sealed a macabre pact: that he would kill her former husband if she helped him to find his victims. He would never fulfil his side of the bargain.

Ms Olivier's role was allegedly to approach the girls and women whom her husband had targeted, sometimes driving her van and pretending to be lost. Their first attack, in 1987, barely two months after his release, set the tone for the others. The couple allegedly drove up alongside Isabelle Laville, 17, and asked for directions. They then persuaded her to get into the van. It was not until 2006 that police, directed by Fourniret himself, would find her remains at the bottom of a well.

The youngest victim was Elisabeth Brichet, 12, who was abducted in the Belgian town of Namur in 1989. Her body was discovered 14 years later in the grounds of the couple's château on the Franco-Belgian border, a property they had bought after Fourniret stole the booty of a bank robber with whom he had shared a cell in prison.

The murder spree was halted in 2003 after a 13-year-old victim escaped from the van in Belgium and noted the registration number.

Detectives arrested the couple but only realised they had a serial killer on their hands several months later when Ms Olivier started to tell how she had “hunted virgins” for her husband. She recounted a murder in Burgundy that closely resembled that of Miss Parrish, a Leeds University student whose family is from Gloucestershire. Fourniret denies that killing but has been placed under formal investigation in connection with the case. It is likely to be the focus of a subsequent trial.

The victims

Isabelle Laville, 17, was kidnapped on December 11, 1987, on her way home from school in Auxerre, central France. Fourniret confessed to raping and killing her. In July 2006 he led investigators to her bones and clothing, buried at the bottom of a well in northeastern France. Olivier is accused of complicity in her kidnap and rape.

Fabienne Leroy, 20, was kidnapped on July 8, 1988, from a supermarket car park in Châlons-en-Champagne, east of Paris. Her body was found the next day outside a nearby military base. She was killed by a shotgun wound to the chest. Fourniret confessed to the murder. Olivier is charged as an accomplice.

Jeanne-Marie Desramault, a 22-year-old law student, was kidnapped on March 18, 1989, outside the railway station in Charleville-Mézières. In July 2004 Fourniret led investigators to her body in the grounds of a château he once owned in the town of Donchery. Fourniret confessed to her murder. Olivier is also charged with murder and kidnap.

Elisabeth Brichet, aged 12, was kidnapped on her way home from a friend’s house in Namur, Belgium, on December 20, 1989. Her remains were unearthed in July 2004 at Fourniret’s château. He has confessed to the murder but denies rape. Olivier is charged with complicity.

Natacha Danais, 13, was kidnapped, assaulted and stabbed to death on November 21, 1990, near Nantes, western France. Her body was found three days later on a beach. Fourniret has confessed to the murder and attempted rape. Olivier is charged as an accomplice.

Céline Saison, 18, went missing on May 16, 2000, after taking an exam in Charleville-Mézières. Her body was found two months later in a wood over the Belgian border. Fourniret admits kidnapping, raping and strangling her.

Mananya Thumphong, 13, vanished on May 5, 2001, from Sedan, northeast France. Her remains were found the following year in the Nollevaux forest, in Belgium. Fourniret admits kidnap and murder but denies rape.

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