And mass rapist grins on
prime time TV and alleges many of his latest 62 women victims voluntarily had
sex with him moments before he murdered them
Ex-policeman Mikhail Popkov, 53, gave an interview
on state-funded Rossiya He grinned
through the interview and blamed his wife's 'treason' for attacks Nicknamed
'The Werewolf', he's accused of brutally killing 62 women in Sibera Popkov has
already been convicted of killing 22 women in a separate case
Russia's worst-ever
serial killer and mass rapist caused outrage grinned through a prime time TV interview ahead of his upcoming trial, and even claimed
that many of his victims voluntarily had sex with him moments before he
murdered them.
Ex-policeman
Mikhail Popkov, 53, was convicted two years ago of killing 22 women, and ahead
of a second trial next month, he confessed to 64 other murders - taking his
total to 84.
Nicknamed
'The Werewolf', he violently raped victims before bludgeoning or stabbing them
to death using axes, bats, knives or screwdrivers, according to previous
convictions and new charges.
Despite
already serving a life sentence, he was allowed to do a major TV interview on
state-funded Rossiya 1 channel in which he blamed his wife's 'treason' for his
attacks on women in the Siberian city of Angarsk, and denied being a rapist.
Ex-policeman Mikhail Popkov,
53, gave a major TV interview on state-funded Rossiya 1 channel in which he
blamed his wife's 'treason' for his attacks on women in the Siberian city of
Angarsk.
Nicknamed 'The Werewolf', he violently raped victims
before bludgeoning or stabbing them to death using axes, bats, knives or
screwdrivers, according to previous convictions and new charges
He was convicted two years ago
of killing 22 women.
Popkov,
a former policeman, has already confessed to all the killings, saying he wanted
to 'clean up' his Siberian city Angarsk of 'prostitutes' and 'immoral women'.
Smiling
as he enjoyed the limelight, Popkov's appearance produced an angry backlash
amid accusations he was mocking his 84 victims with his self-serving
statements, claiming he hoped one day to be released.
'My
genetic material was found on the clothes (of victims), so I was automatically
accused of rape,' the former cop said.
'But
I will say 100 per cent - none of the victims were raped,' he added. 'If I had
a sexual intercourse with anybody,it was voluntarily.'
He
also boasted about having an affair with a woman called Elena Porokhina, who
has admitted the relationship and told police he didn't harm her.
Popkov, a former policeman, has
already confessed to all the killings, saying he wanted to 'clean up' his
Siberian city Angarsk of 'prostitutes' and 'immoral women'
Smiling as he enjoyed the
limelight, Popkov's appearance produced an angry backlash amid accusations he
was mocking his 84 victims with his self-serving statements, claiming he hoped
one day to be released
Grinning
in the video clip he said: 'I know what did she told, I read the protocol of
her interrogation. You will not find anybody who will say bad about me.'
His
TV appearance sparked a flood of online demands for Vladimir Putin to end a
moratorium on the death penalty so that Popkov can be shot at close range, the
traditional Russian method of execution.
A
smile was wiped off Popkov's face when the interviewer, Ksenia Zotina, told him
that his wife is now in a relationship with a police investigator who was on
his case, Vasily Domoradov.
Looking
upset, he asked: 'How long... if it is not a secret?'
He
added: said: 'No... I will not think about this and feel upset. You can always
find a positive side. She shouldn't spend all her life with a bonehead like
me.'
But
he accused his wife of 'treason', saying: 'There was an incident with the
infidelity of my wife. Then I... if I can say so... 'treated' that young man.'
He
coldly revealed to police how he cruelly selected women to kill during his
18-year reign of terror in Irkutsk region between 1992 and 2010.
Popkov, pictured circled as a
child, claimed that many of the women he killed voluntarily had sex with him
before he killed them
He also boasted about having an
affair with a woman called Elena Porokhina, who has admitted the relationship
and told police he didn't harm her
Popkov, pictured being escorted
by police, used his police car, offering lifts to some victims, then taking
them to remote areas to rape and murder them
'The
victims were those who, unaccompanied by men, at night, without a certain
purpose, were on the streets, behaving carelessly, who were not afraid to enter
into conversation with me, get into my car, and then go for a drive in search
of adventures, for the sake of entertainment, ready to drink alcohol and have
sexual intercourse with me.'
He
used his police car, offering lifts to some victims, then taking them to remote
areas to rape and murder them.
'Not
all women became victims, but those of a certain negative behaviour, I had a
desire to teach and punish,' he said of his decision who would live and die.
The
cases date from 1992, just after the collapse of the Soviet Union, to 2010. His
newly confirmed victims were aged 17 to 38, according to law enforcement
sources.
Popkov's wife Elena
(pictured above) and daughter Katya (Ekaterina) have started new lives in
different cities after initially refusing to believe he was guilty
His daughter Katya
(pictured above), a teacher, now 30, and expecting a child, told how she found
it impossible to believe that her 'loving' father could be the man who
violently raped his victims before butchering them
Popkov said he was a 'good
husband and father' to his wife, Elena, and Daughter, Katya, when he went on a
killing rampage murdering 82 women over almost two decades
In
leaked testimony from the macabre case, he described to criminal investigators
how he separated his 'ordinary' family life from his other existence as one of
history's worst and most bloodthirsty serial killers using axes, knives and
screwdrivers to murder his victims.
'I
had a double-life,' he told investigators working on his case. 'In one life I
was an ordinary person, I was in the service, in the police, having positive
feedback on my work.
'I
had a family. My wife and daughter considered me a good husband and father,
which corresponded to reality.
'In
my other life I committed murders, which I carefully concealed from everyone,
realising that this was a criminal offence.
'My
wife and daughter never knew about the crimes I committed and did not even suspect
this.'
He
raided the police station's store of weapons confiscated from criminals to use
for his own murders, he admitted in testimony to criminal investigators.
'I
had the opportunity then to take them,' he said. 'Then I threw them away either
at the crime scene or nearby, wiping them with something to remove my
fingerprints.
'The
choice of weapons for killing was always casual. I never prepared beforehand to
commit a murder, I could use any object that was in the car - a knife, an axe,
a bat.
'I
never used rope for strangulation, and I did not have a firearm either. I did
not cut out the hearts of the victims.'