NEW YORK (AP):

Prosecutors say a New York City police officer charged with seeking to kill and eat women hinted in an online chat that his wife might have been on the menu.

Federal prosecutors said on Monday that Gilberto Valle engaged in a grisly Internet chat with a man who said he was in India. They said Valle told the other man that his "girlfriend" and his wife were both 25 years old, 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 metres) tall and 140 pounds (64 kilograms).

According to prosecutors, the other man asked if the wife was vegetarian and Valle said yes. Prosecutors said the man told Valle her meat would be lower quality.

The 28-year-old Valle is charged with planning to kidnap, rape, kill and eat women. Lawyers say he was merely fantasising and intended no violence.