Sick students committed horrible acts because they were interested in black magic

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Despite revulsion at their crime, females Anastasiya Burlakova, 20 and Natalia Ovcharova, 18, along with male Konstantin Zadvinsky, 19, walked free from a Russian court and will be allowed to continue their studies.

They cooked the remains in their Russian college hostel in November last year, intending to turn the skull into an ashtray, the court was told.

The woman had died aged 84 in January 2014 and her relatives have expressed outrage at the "soft" three year suspended jail sentences imposed by a judge in Novocherkassk, where the crime happened.

The trio brought the remains back to their hostel, cutting off the head and fingers, which they intended to use as fortune telling runes.

They boiled the head, and stashed the rest of the corpse under a bed.

All three confessed that they were deeply interested in black magic and mysterious things.

Fellow students reported an unpleasant smell from the room in the dormitory block and called police , leading to the discovery of the corpse.