'Granny ripper', 81, who made 'snacks' from the flesh of her victims dies of Covid

A killer pensioner who handed out snacks made from the flesh of people she murdered has died from the coronavirus.

Sofia Zhukova, 81, died in a Russian jail awaiting prosecution over at least three killings with police suspecting her of responsibility for at least four other deaths.

Evidence against her include the fact that when she was arrested, they found human intestines in her fridge.

The victims of the serial killer Gran dubbed the "Russian Sweeney Todd" include an eight-year-old girl who reportedly annoyed the OAP by playing too noisily.

She was allegedly killed after she cheekily threw ice cream at the OAP after being told to be quiet.

Zhukova was finally arrested after janitor Vasily Shlyakhtich, 52, who had agreed to rent a room in her apartment in the village of Berezovka, located in the Khabarovsk urban district of the Khabarovsk Territory, vanished in January 2019.

A spokesman at the Russian Investigative Directorate in the Khabarovsk Territory said: "Criminologists discovered knives and saws on which they discovered traces of the blood of the victim. She was arrested for murder, and put in pre-trial detention as the investigation continued."

She died in hospital No. 10 in Khabarovsk after catching COVID-19 and is alleged to have started her murder spree after the death of her husband in 2005.

The three murders she was on trial over include the eight-year-old girl, the 52-year-old who rented her apartment and a 77-year-old woman.

Locals said the woman had spent years working as a labourer and was strong for her age, and often carried an axe with her. They had often complained about her killing local cats, but had never suspected her of also killing people.

One local identified only by her first name Tatyana said at the time: "We always found it strange that despite being surly and unfriendly, she would often find the time to cook things for the local children. They were always meat dishes. Sometimes she gave them to the adults, she bought me and my husband plates with jellied meat."

She added: "I remember it well because my husband said let's not eat it, you never know what it was made from, and now it looks like he was right."

Tatyana said police had confirmed that she used meat from the people she killed.

Under interrogation, the elderly woman admitted to killing her lodger, and as the police probed deeper, they were shocked when she then allegedly also admitted to killing an eight-year-old girl who disappeared on 14th December 2005.

She reportedly said the girl was a nuisance and had annoyed her by running around making noise, and that the final straw was when the child had thrown a piece of ice cream at her. After that, her fate was sealed.

A few fragments of human remains were found at the time that they identified as belonging to the child, shocking the girl's mother identified as Natalya Alekseenko, who even when the woman was put on trial refused to accept that her daughter might not still be alive somewhere.

As well as the three people she was accused of murdering, police also believe that she was responsible for the murder of a female friend, Nina Babenko, aged 83, after she moved in as a lodger in April 2013.

The OAP sold her apartment and took the money with her but was never seen again. There no details given of the three other suspected victims that she was not yet charged over.

She had admitted to killing the janitor and went on trial in October over the other murders where she shocked the court by laughing as the charges were read out, and the hearing continued into last year when the court ordered a retrial in June.

The case which was being heard at the Khabarovsk Regional Court was then delayed because of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

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