Jealous love rival castrates and kills Mayor of sleepy French town

The murderer is said to have suspected Dominique Leboucher of having an affair with his girlfriend

(Getty Images)

A sleepy French village has been rocked by the news that their mayor has been castrated and murdered. An unnamed attacker suspected the official of having an affair with his girlfriend.

Residents of Bretteville-le-Rabet – a village of just over 200 residents in the northern Calvados region – were left traumatised after news emerged of the mayor’s brutal death.

Dominique Leboucher, 55, had been a member of the council since 2001 and had been elected as mayor just two months before the attack on Thursday night.

According to a prosecutor, Leboucher was stabbed by the 39-year-old as an act of jealousy after the unnamed attacker believed the mayor was having an affair with his girlfriend.

It was also reported that the murderer castrated Leboucher, before taking his own life.

Despite infidelity being seen as the motive behind the murder, many of the people from the small town in the north-west of France dispute that Leboucher was having an affair.

Leboucher’s wife told reporters that she did not think her husband was having an affair, while the mayor’s deputy, Yannick Guesnon, said that he did not believe Leboucher had been unfaithful.

One resident told reporters that the attacker, who was a father of two, had "blown a fuse” as a result of his partner often attending local council meetings in the evenings.

Investigations are ongoing.