Major update as former supermarket worker admits strangling and beheading his wife and dumping her remains in Paris park
A FORMER supermarket worker has admitted to strangling his wife to death and beheading her before dumping her body in a Paris park.
Youcef Matoug, 50, was charged by cops in France with murdering 46-year-old Assia and hiding her body parts in the historic Buttes-Chaumont Park in northeast Paris.
He was arrested earlier this week 11 days after the grisly find.
Matoug has now confessed to killing the mum-of-three on the night of January 30 before dismembering her and hiding her remains.
The murder is believed to have taken place at the family's home in the nearby eastern Parisian suburb of Montreuil.
He didn't report his wife as missing to the police until six days later, which reportedly made police suspicious.
Assia's phone was turned off and she wasn't seen until several days later when her remains were found in the famous park, which features in the Netflix series Emily in Paris.
On February 13, a full two weeks after the murder is alleged to have taken place, horrified gardeners discovered a woman's pelvis in a plastic bag hidden in a park bin.
A major police investigation was launched and the following day, Assia's head was discovered in another waste bag.
Matoug reportedly said during police interviews that he hadn't meant to kill his wife, but that "an argument got out of hand".
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His defence barrister Dominique Beyreuther-Minkov told French publication Le Parisien: "My client is devastated. He explained himself as humanly as he could. Justice will now do its work.
"My client has always denied that he intended to kill his wife."
She also said Matoug had given a chilling reason for why he had dumped her remains in Buttes-Chaumont park.
Matoug reportedly said he wanted his wife to end her days in "one of the most beautiful parks in Paris".
The park has been the setting of many movies and TV shows over the years, including the films Marseille Contract in 1974 and 1913's silent movie The Murderous Corpse.
In the third episode of the wildly popular series Emily In Paris, leading actress Lily Collins is shown picnicking in the park.
A prosecutor's office spokesman said Matoug was indicted on Saturday for "the murder of his spouse, violation of integrity and concealment of a corpse".
The couple's three children, aged eight, 14 and 16, are now in the care of their extended family, who are originally from Algeria.
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Former supermarket worker Matoug had been out of work for "some months", according to prosecutors.
His wife was doing charity work to support the family, but a neighbour said that "there was no sign of friction" in the household.
