An Italian nurse branded the 'Angel of Death' has admitted she was 'wrong' to take selfies with dead patients, but has blamed a colleague for the sick images.

Alleged serial killer Daniele Poggiali, 42, has said the shocking pictures were a 'mistake' and were meant to be kept 'private' between her and the fellow female health worker she accuses of taking them.

She told the Corriere della Sera newspaper: 'I was wrong and I recognize that.

When colleagues finally alerted police to Poggiali's suspicious behaviour, they found these appalling selfies of her laughing and joking next to the corpse of a woman on her mobile phone

Power-mad: Police claim Poggiali had a 'God complex' and enjoyed the control she had over life and death

'It wasn't my idea but that of my colleague, who took the photos. Also, I never could have imagined they would be circulated.

'It was something private between me and her. Anyhow, it was a mistake.'

Speaking through her lawyer Stefano Dalla Valle, Poggiali said she was unable to explain the fact she was present for 93 deaths in two years, double that of any other colleague, except that she worked a lot of shifts.

She said: 'I haven't killed anyone. Rather, I always lived to help others.'

In one of the disgusting images, Poggliali can be seen grinning and giving thumbs up signs next to the body of an elderly woman.

In another she is leaning over a corpse with an index finger pointed like a pretend gun at her own cheek.

She was arrested in October on suspicion of poisoning her alleged victims with potassium at the Umberto I Hospital in Lugo, northern Italy, but denies being a murderer.

Described by judges as a 'public danger' and denied bail, she will remain in prison until the start of the trial, Corriere said.

Investigators previously suspected that she drip-fed as many as 38 patients with potassium chloride, the compound used in lethal injections in the United States.

But Italian prosecutors are now probing 93 deaths of patients in the nurse's care amid fears Poggiali may have murdered as many as three in a single day.

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Grisly grin: Poggiali was led into court smiling despite the horrific catalogue of crimes she is accused of

Worst ever: Proescutors told police she was present at the death of 90 patients in just two years - double the number of any other colleague at the Umberto I hospital in Lugo, Italy

If convicted of anywhere near 90 murders, Poggiali - who has been a healthcare worker for 17 years - would go down in history books as the most prolific serial killer nurse in the world.

The current holder of the dubious record is Charles Cullen. He is suspected in up to 400 deaths but only admitted to authorities that he poisoned up to 40 patients during his 16-year nursing career in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

In 2006 he was sentenced to six life sentences for what he claimed they were 'mercy killings'.

Detectives say Poggiali's alleged murders were not a twisted form of euthanasia but the power trip of 'a megalomaniac with a God complex.'

However, Poggiali has no history of mental illness and none of the traits of a psychopath, police said.

To add to the horrific list of accusations, police also suspect she stole cash and belongings from her vulnerable elderly patients as she plotted to kill them because they 'annoyed' her.

Poggiali, who was photographed laughing as she was hauled handcuffed into court last week, claims she is innocent of murder and is the victim of a plot by a colleague with a grudge. She is even suing the hospital for wrongful dismissal.

Meanwhile, the blonde is said to be receiving slews of fan mail and even marriage proposals in prison. Her case has also caught the attention of Amanda Knox 'groupies' who are said to have transferred their affections to the beautiful 'killer'.

Appallingly, colleagues were not oblivious to the 'coincidence' that she was present at many of the deaths at the hospital - the problem was openly gossiped about by her colleagues.

One nurse, Sara Pausini admitted to Italian Carabinieri: 'We had for some time been talking about Poggiali and about the strange number of dead patients, even three on the same day.'

According to the arrest warrant, she said: 'When I went to work with her I began to count the strange number of deaths to see if it was by bad luck or something else.'

Records show that Miss Poggaili was present at double the number of any other nurse and as many as four times the average during her last four months at the hospital.

There were three unexplained mortalities in Miss Poggiali's care in one 24-hour period over the night of March 31 and April 1. All three are now described by prosecutors as 'highly suspicious'.

She thought she was so clever, so cunning that she could kill in the day-time, right under everyone's noses - Prosecutor Alessandro Mancini

In the shocking case of victim Oriana Cricca, who died on March 31, an unnamed nurse was asked to tend to the older woman, after her nasal feeding tube began to leak onto the pillow.

The nurse was carrying out a complicated procedure on another patient, so Miss Poggiali said that she would take care of it. A few minutes later the patient had died 'in agony', according to the arrest warrant.

Two more patients lost their lives in Miss Poggiali's care on April 4 and 5. Doctors performed autopsies but found nothing unusual.

Detectives believe Poggiali believed she was immune from detection after this series of deaths - but there were already strong suspicions that she was responsible.

She was moved off the nightshift onto the morning shift where doctors could keep an eye on her. But she allegedly struck again.

The prosecutor in the case claims she saw the extra scrutiny put on her as 'a kind of challenge'.

Alessandro Mancini told MailOnline: 'We retain that she thought she was so clever, so cunning that she could kill in the day-time, right under everyone's noses.

'She had a sense of power which made her feel capable of doing whatever she wanted even in the sense of taking someone's life. She felt omnipotent like a God. This was her mistake.'

On one occasion she had even felt safe enough to joke about her murder method with colleagues, it is claimed.

Faced with a patient who had a bad prognosis, she joked to a doctor: 'Two phials of potassium and it would all be resolved,' the arrest warrant alleges.

Arrogant: Police claim that she told a doctor treating a patient who had a bad prognosis: 'Two phials of potassium and it would all be resolved'

Threats: One nurse who claims to have witnessed Poggiali stealing from a patient said she found a funeral bouquet on the bonnet of her car in a 'mafia-style' warning

Eyes rolling: The daughter of Rosa Calderoni, 78, said she found her mother with a phial in her arm, arm 'twitching manically and her eyes started rolling back'

Dr Mancini said: 'Our investigation shows that between 2012 and 2014, 93 patients in her care died. The nearest of her colleagues to that figure was 45. All the other nurses were present at less than 30 deaths.

'We don't have proof that all these patients were murdered, but nevertheless 93 is a disturbing number.'

Manuela Alci, the daughter of 78-year-old Rosa Calderoni, told investigators that a blonde nurse had asked them to leave her mother's room 'as she had things to do'.

'After ten minutes we came back in and saw that there was a small glass phial attached to my mother which hadn't been there before and which ran out in just a few minutes.

'From this moment I noticed unusual behaviour on the part of my mother, her arm started twitching manically and her eyes started rolling back.'

A few minutes later Mrs Calderoni was dead. It was discovered that two vials of potassium chloride had gone missing from the hospital.

The medicine is very hard to detect as it leaves the body within hours. But on this occasion doctors were swift to test the elderly woman's aqueous humour which is in her eyeball - where it is easiest to detect.

There they found the poison in a quantity which would have caused a heart attack. They also found a syringe which had contained potassium in a disposal unit.

Believing they finally had sufficient evidence of a murder they finally reported Poggiali to the police.

Investigators found two sickening pictures on Poggiali's phone. In the first she is grinning and giving a thumbs up while standing victorious over the obviously dead body of an elderly woman. In the second she is lying back with her mouth open in a cruel imitation of the woman's dying position.

The colleague that took them later described her mood as 'euphoric '. Poggiali wrote under the picture on Whatsapp: 'Mmm Life and death…'

The pictures are so upsetting, that the police cannot bring themselves to tell the victim's family that she is the one in the pictures, which were leaked to the press earlier in the week.

Dr Mancini claimed he was shocked by the horrific images which show 'pleasure, satisfaction, euphoria' and had never seen anything like it in his career.

She was calm. She didn't bat an eyelid while her boyfriend burst into tears saying 'I don't believe it' - Arresting officer

Poggiali's colleague who took the pictures later claimed she only did so because she was afraid of her vindictive nature.

Other nurses said she would feed patients with extra laxatives to cause trouble for the next person on shift. They also claimed Poggiali would give patients sleeping drugs to ensure a quiet night shift for herself.

A colleague who claimed to have witnessed Poggiali steal personal belongings of patients told police she found a funeral bouquet on her car bonnet tied with a black ribbon in a mafia-style 'warning'.

In fact Poggiali was a compulsive thief and allegedly stole liberally from patients - up to 100 euros at a time, as well as soaps and shower gels and drugs such as antibiotics from the hospital, it is claimed.

In her 12 years at the hospital there were 12 confirmed incidents, police said, although there were many unexplained thefts as well.

Incredibly, she was considered an excellent nurse; competent and fast. But Sara Pausini told police she was also harsh on patients who had 'a difficult condition, because they were agitated or asked for more help or more medication or those with difficult relatives who complained. '

At home, she was equally intimidating. Mechanic boyfriend Luigi Conficconi, with whom she lived in a council flat in a run down hamlet of Giovecca in the hinterland between Bologna and Ravenna, was said by friends to be 'dominated' by her.

Deadly delay: Nurses openly gossiped about their suspicions - but did not act on them for months

Admirers: Poggiali, who is enjoying her newly found notoriety in prison, has been flooded with fan mail and marriage proposals to the 'beautiful killer'

When the police came to arrest her they were amazed by her cold reaction. One officer said: 'She didn't react like a normal person. She was calm. She didn't bat an eyelid while her boyfriend burst into tears saying 'I don't believe it'.'

Poggiali is said to be unfazed by prison where she must be enjoying a certain notoriety. She has been inundated by love letters and offers of marriage should she ever leave jail.