The husband of a French woman charged with killing eight of her newborn babies has been freed without charge, the local chief prosecutor Eric Vaillant told reporters Thursday.
   
Earlier, prosecution sources told AFP the supposed father of the babies had been charged with failing to report the killings and hiding the bodies, but the prosecutor said the investigating magistrate had ruled against this.
   
Vaillant said the mother, 45-year-old Dominique Cottrez, had admitted to killing the babies because "she did not want any more children and did not want to see a doctor to get contraception."
   
She has been charged with "deliberate homicides against children under 15", which carries a life sentence, and has said she was not in denial about the pregnancies, which she was "perfectly aware of" as they were under way.