Serial killer ex-cop: Russian Mikhail Popkov guilty of killing 77 women

A Russian former policeman has been convicted of killing 55 women and one man, bringing the total number of women he is convicted of killing to 77.

Mikhail Popkov predominantly targeted women aged 18 to 50 in urban areas in the eastern Siberian region of Irkutsk from 1992 to 2007, the court said in a statement on Monday.

"The victims ended up outside of the city ... in a forest, cemeteries, roadsides," the statement said.

Many of the victims were residents of the cities of Irkutsk and Angarsk, and the town of Usolye-Sibirskoye, it said.

Known as the "Angarsk maniac", his victims included a fellow policeman, the federal Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Popkov was initially convicted three years ago for the murders of 22 women and sentenced to life in prison. He has been stripped of his rank of junior lieutenant.

Read more: The world's second worst serial killer who walked free from prison