Police in north-eastern Brazil say three people have admitted killing at least two women, eating parts of their bodies and using their flesh to make stuffed pastries known as empanadas that they sold to neighbours.

Jorge Beltrao Negromonte, his wife and his mistress - belonged to a sect that preached "the purification of the world and the reduction of its population", Insp Wesley Fernandes in the city of Garanhuns said.

The Estado de S.Paulo newspaper said Negromonte wrote a 50-page book, Revelations of A Schizophrenic, in which he says he hears voices and is obsessed with the killing of women.

Mr Fernandes said the three had confessed to the crimes.

The trio are accused of luring women to their house by promising them a job as a nanny. They were tracked down after one of the arrested women used a credit card belonging to a victim who disappeared last month.

Police found the remains of the two women in the back garden of the suspects' house, which enraged neighbours burned to the ground on Thursday.

Mr Fernandes identified the three as Negromonte; his wife Isabel Cristina Pires, and his mistress Bruna Oliveira da Silva.

The three also planned to kill another woman living in the nearby city of Lagoa do Ouro, Mr Fernandes said.