IRKUTSK, Russia -- A Siberian policeman who raped and killed women after offering them late-night rides was found guilty of dozens more murders on Monday, making him Russia's most prolific serial killer of recent times. The court in the Siberian city of Irkutsk finds Mikhail Popkov 'guilty of killing 56 people between 1992 and 2007,' the Irkutsk regional prosecutor's office says

MOSCOW, Russia – A Russian court on Monday, December 10, found a former policeman guilty of 56 murders, while he is already serving a life sentence for killing 22 women, making him one of Russia's most prolific serial killers. He was detained in the Russian Far East in 2012 two decades after he began his killing spree and was sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2015 for 22 murders and 2 attempted murders. Popkov offered rides to women late at night, sometimes in his police car, while off-duty around his city of Angarsk near Irkutsk, 4,200 kilometres (2,600 miles) east of Moscow.His murderous spree initially went unnoticed during a period of rampant mafia killings in the crime-ridden city. Prosecutors on Monday described Popkov as having "a pathological attraction to killing people" and "homicidal mania with sadistic elements," but he was ruled sane enough to stand trial. While already in jail, he confessed to 59 further murders but was convicted only of 56 on Monday because investigators had not managed to prove three of the crimes took place, Interfax news agency reported, citing the court's press service. Popkov has become Russia's most prolific killer in at least the past century, with the number of murders exceeding that of "chessboard killer" Alexander Pichushkin, who murdered 48, and Andrei Chikatilo, who killed 52.
Russian serial killer and former policeman Mikhail Popkov is convicted of an additional 56 murders between 1992 and 2007. All of his victims were women.