PARIS (AFP) - A jealous man castrated and murdered the mayor of a hamlet in northern France whom he suspected of having an affair with his girlfriend, officials said Friday.

Mayor Dominique Leboucher, 55, was brutally stabbed in the neck by a 39-year-old electrician, the prosecutor of the northern city of Caen told reporters.

He subsequently committed suicide.

The mayor's wife said she did not believe her husband was cheating.

The prosecutor said the mayor was apparently castrated after being murdered.

The crime sparked horror in the tiny village of Bretteville-le-Rabet in France's northern Calvados region.

"I do not believe this thing about infidelity at all," said Yannick Guesnon, one of the mayor's deputies, adding that the attack appeared to be "an act of madness."

Albert Gibot, a pensioner in the village of 250 souls, said the attacker, a father of two, had "blown a fuse as his partner used to attend meetings of the local council in the evenings."

The mayor, who worked in insurance sales, first became a councillor in 2001 before taking up the post of deputy mayor in 2008. He was elected mayor in March's municipal elections.