A 102-year-old woman is suspected of having murdered her 92-year-old neighbour in a French retirement home.

The suspected killer is now in a psychiatric hospital. Earlier she told one of the carers that she had “killed someone”, a prosecutor said.

A carer at the home in Chézy-sur-Marne, northern France, found the victim dead in bed, her face severely bruised.

The cause of death was “strangulation and blows to the head”, a post-mortem examination concluded.

The death was discovered just after midnight on Saturday by a carer, who found the victim lying in bed unconscious, AFP news agency reports.

The 102-year-old was “in a very agitated state, confused, and told the carer that she had killed someone”, AFP news agency reported, quoting the prosecutor.

Psychiatric tests are being done on the suspect, to determine whether or not she was criminally responsible for her actions at the time.