The alarm was raised by a family member and a neighbour after the couple, who lived in the Paris suburb of Maurepas, had not been seen for over a day, according to Le Parisien newspaper.

“I’d seen them and everything was fine,” said the neighbour, Daniel, who lived opposite the couple.

“The next day, I noticed that their car wasn’t there and that the shutters in their sitting room were closed, which never happened. I thought it was odd. I waited the whole day, worried. In the evening, I saw their niece, who was also concerned. We called the emergency services and they found them dead in their house.”

Police made the grisly discovery when they entered the home on Friday evening. The man had been tied to a piece of furniture with his wife at his side. Both had been stabbed several times and the house had been ransacked.

“We see many incidents where the victims are tied up but this level of violence is unusual, said a police source quoted by Le Parisien. “Usually, criminals tie up their victims, take what they want and then disappear.”

The police inquiry will investigate whether the couple were tortured before they were killed. 

twitter.com/matthew_warren