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The family of a 'Werewolf' serial killer who raped and slaughtered 22 women have told the fiend: "We still love you."

Deranged Mikhail Popkov used axes, knives or screwdrivers to murder women in his home town of Angarsk, Russia in a twisted effort to "cleanse" the streets of prostitutes.

In a series of crimes that shocked his home country, 50-year-old Popkov was given the nickname 'The Werewolf' after one of his victims was beheaded and another had her heart carved from her body.

A former police officer, he used his work car to lure women to accompanying him at which point he would kill them and then rape their bodies.

(Image: Channel 1;The Siberian Times)

He was caught in 2012 after investigators re-examined the case and carried out DNA testing of Angarsk residents, focusing on those who drove a car make whose tracks had been found at crime scenes.

Popkov was sentenced to life imprisonment after confessing the murders, but despite overwhelming evidence his family still believe him when he says he did not do it.

But wife Elena Popkova, 48, declared: "We have been married for 28 years. If I suspected something wrong, of course, I would divorce with him.

"I support him, I believe him. If he were to be released right now, I would not say a word and we would continue to live together.

"I love him, I support him. He did not cause me any harm for all these years. I felt safe with him."

Despite his confession, she said that when she met him ahead of his sentencing, he "denied everything", reported The Siberian Times.

(Image: Timur Balashov/The Siberian Times)

"Even when our daughter asked him, he said, 'Katya, you understand that all these [allegations] are fairy tales. It is the system -- I have worked within it, I know this system well."

The mass murderer's 27 year old daughter even said she had wanted to try and solve the crimes for herself to prove her father was innocent.

"I do not believe any of this. I always felt myself as 'Daddy's girl'," she claimed on Russian TV

"For 25 years we were together, hand in hand.

"We walked, rode bikes, went to the shops, and he met me from school.

"We both collect model cars, so we have the same hobby.

"I wanted to be a criminologist, so I read a book with tips of how investigators catch serial killers and there were also basic classifications [about murderers].

"Daddy doesn't fit any of these classifications -- he doesn't look like some maniac."

(Image: Channel 1;The Siberian Times)

Popkov's pensioner mother Antonina also disputed that her son - who she calls Misha - was a mass killer.

"Where was the blood? His clothes should have been covered in blood or if he had tried to wash the blood away, the clothes would have been wet," she said.

"His wife would definitely have noticed all that.

"He loves his family, cherishes his daughter, and he dreamt about grandchildren. He would not have done this. He will remain my son, until my death.

"He studied well and from the very beginning he was excellent pupil. He loved to cook, pancakes or something like this and he was very neat, like me."

But, showing some doubt, she added: "Misha, give us some sign if you have done all this or not. And if so, why? It is hard to live knowing nothing. We need to know."

(Image: Channel 1;The Siberian Times)

Popkov's sister, also Elena, described his life sentence as "a tragedy", claiming: "There was no violence in our family at all.

"We just want to know an answer if he did this or not."

In "strong physical shape", the convicted serial killer used his police patrol car to offer late night lifts to women who had been drinking.

His victims' bodies were found dumped naked in woods, on the roadside and in a cemetery.

They included a teacher and a shop assistant.

(Image: Channel 1;The Siberian Times)

Popkov managed to elude the authorities for two decades because investigators ignored evidence that the serial killer could be one of their own officers.

The murders stopped in 2000 and Popkov later said this was because he had caught a venereal disease, which rid him of the maniacal desire to kill women.

He told police: "I just neglected the illness, tried to cure it by myself, was afraid to go to the hospital.

"And I felt the consequences, I became impotent. After that, I lost the desire to rape and murder."

He was finally arrested in 2012 after detectives took DNA samples from 3,500 current and former police officers.