Russia's notorious 'Werewolf'serial killer convicted of another 56 murders

The ‘Werewolf’, a notorious serial killer jailed for like for slaughtering 22 women has been convicted of another 56 murders.

Former Russian policeman Mikhail Popkov, one of the most prolific serial killers alive, was convicted of murdering 56 people between 1992 and 2007, in a court in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.

The Werewolf admitted to 59 murders, though investigators failed to prove three of the crimes took place.

Popkov was found guilty of raping 10 of his victims and was slapped with a second life sentence.

In 2015, he was convicted of killing 22 women.

Popkov has a “pathological attraction to killing people”, according to prosecutors.

As well as ‘The Werewolf’, Russian media nicknamed him the “Angarsk maniac”.

Popkov used a hammer or axe to kill his victims, often after offering them rides late at night.

He would occasionally use a police car, while off duty near his home in Angarsk near Irkutsk.

The sick murderer told press that he viewed his extensive killings as a purge, he saw himself as a cleaner ridding his home city of sex workers.

Popkov, preyed on women who knew were intoxicated or that he viewed as ‘immoral’.

He claimed to target sex workers and women with substance abuse issues, though most of his victims were women with families.

He was eventually tracked down by officers in 2012.

Police were able to catch him by DNA-testing members of the public who drove cars that matched tyre tracks present at the crime scenes.

Following his arrest, Popkov showed officers where he had disposed of his victim’s bodies.