LONDON - Three people in north-east Brazil have been sentenced to 20 to 23 years in jail for killing a woman and eating her in what they said was a "purification" ritual, BBC reported.

The trio also allegedly sold pastries known as empadas stuffed with the woman's flesh to neighbours, the report said on Saturday.

Jorge Beltrao Negromonte da Silveira was given 23 years' imprisonment by a judge on Friday while his wife, Isabel Cristina Pires, and his mistress, Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva, were sentenced to 20 years.

They also confessed to killing two more women and will be sentenced later, BBC said.

The trio, arrested in the city of Garanhuns in April 2012, were convicted of murder, desecration and concealment of a body.

Their victim was identified by Brazilian media as Jessica Camila da Silva, a homeless woman. She was not related to Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva.

She was reportedly lured by the cannibalist trio to their house with the promise of a job as a nanny, BBC said.

Police was to find human remains in the back garden of the house the three shared.

Police also found a 50-page book written by Negromonte called Revelations of a Schizophrenic, reported BBC. In it he claimed he heard voices and was fixated with thoughts of killing women.

At the time of their arrest, the report said, the trio claimed to be part of a group that supported "the purification of the world and the reduction of its population".

They admitted in court to killing and eating their victim as part of a purification ritual, though they denied selling the flesh in pastries.

Their lawyers said they would appeal against the sentences.