A father in France on Sunday confessed to killing his three young daughters and turned himself in, said prosecutors and a police source.

The man, 41, went to the police station in the northern coastal town of Dieppe "to report that he had killed his three children", the local public prosecutor said.

Police found them dead in his home in the town of Alfortville, in the southeastern suburbs of Paris.

The public prosecutor in the Paris suburb of Creteil confirmed the "deaths of three young girls aged four, 10 and 11".

Two children were stabbed to death, said a police source. They were found under a cover, while the third lay dead on a sofa, according to early findings of the investigation.

The father had been convicted of domestic violence in 2021, said a source close to the case.

A restraining order against him was issued but subsequently lifted. 

The man was taken into police custody, the prosecutors said.