A Polish doctor who carried out home experiments on over 30 unborn babies before burying them in her back garden is facing 12 years jail. 

Magdalena H. -whose surname has been withheld under Polish privacy laws - was arrested at a Polish hotel in the early hours of Friday morning after construction workers carrying out renovation work alerted police to the horrifying discovery.

Police swooped on the 5-acre property in the picturesque village of Lutoryz in southeast Poland over the weekend.

Horrified locals watched on as hundreds of officers combed the area using ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs. 

Prosecutors said that police uncovered the remains of 34 foetuses buried among thousands of microscopic slides, documents and paraffin blocks used for preserving human tissue.

Prosecutor spokesman Krzysztof Ciechanowski said that the medical equipment 'was most likely used to perform tests by the detained woman, who is a pathologist by profession.

He added that in an official statement, the 57-year-old woman said that 'she brought and buried the foetuses found on her property.'

According to local media reports, Magdalena had taken the foetuses from a local hospital during Covid lockdown and used them for medical research at home.

She is said to have then placed the remains in sacks and buried them on the grounds of the house which she sold two years ago.

Her case has whipped up a storm in traditionally Catholic Poland, with many questioning how she managed to obtain the unborn babies' bodies in a country with some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe.

But a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said that there is so far no evidence she had obtained the foetuses through illegal abortions.

According to Fakt newspaper, the doctor enjoyed a good reputation in the professional community.

Before moving to Lutoryz, she lived in the nearby city of Rzeszów where she worked at a local hospital.

But after selling the village property last year, she returned to Rzeszów to live with her mother.

A specialist in the examination of human tissue and remains, as part of her work Magdalena also performed tests and procedures for medical facilities.

She has now been put into three months detention while investigations continue.

Prosecutor spokesman Ciechanowski said: 'This investigation is in its very early stages. There's still a lot of work ahead of us.

'Investigations are ongoing, and more people are being questioned to gather the fullest possible picture of the entire incident.'

The charges against the doctor include desecrating corpses, improper waste handling and abandoning hazardous materials in an unauthorised location. 

After hearing the charges, the doctor did not plead guilty, but 'indicated that she herself brought and buried the human foetuses found on her property, as well as other medical waste', the prosecutor's spokesman said at a press conference.

The identities of the foetuses have yet to be determined, and it is yet unknown if Magdalena acted alone.