Notorious French cannibal killer details craving for human flesh

Notorious French cannibal killer Nico Claux, known as the "Paris Vampire," has revealed details of his crimes in a rare interview, describing how his obsession with death led him to steal and eat corpses from morgues before committing murder.

Now 51, Claux was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1997 for murder and cannibalism, serving just over seven years before his release.

He told the YouTube program "Anything Goes With James English" that his fixation began after his grandfather's death when he was 10. At 12, after reading about Japanese cannibal Issei Sagawa who killed and ate a woman in Paris, he began developing fantasies of "biting and tearing flesh" which evolved into a sexual fetish.

As an adult, Claux sought work in morgues to access corpses. He described being left alone in autopsy rooms where he would cut small pieces of muscle from bodies to eat raw, sometimes taking meat home to cook. He claimed it wasn't the taste but the "sensory shock and excitement" that compelled him.

Stealing human flesh from morgues eventually failed to satisfy him. In 1997, he lured Parisian Thierry Bissonnier to his apartment, shot him dead and attempted to dismember the body for consumption. Claux was arrested after trying to use the victim's checks.

Police later discovered bloody tools, blood bags, a human fetus and a skull altar in his home.

When asked about the taste of human flesh, Claux compared it to horse meat but emphasized the "urge and thrill" drove him rather than flavor.

Disturbingly, after his release, Claux used forged documents to work in morgues across France for 13 years. He has published books including The Gospel of Blood and The Cannibal Cookbook, describing how he "manages his impulses."

The interview has sparked controversy in France, with many questioning how someone convicted of such grave crimes could repeatedly return to work in morgues.