A mug shot of Sofia Zhukova, aka Babushka Butcher, who has confessed to three murders committed over 15 years in eastern Russia

An 80-year-old woman branded Babushka (Granny) Butcher has confessed to three murders carried out during a decade and a half in a city in eastern Russia.

Sofia Zhukova is now under investigation over four more possible killings, say reports citing Russian law enforcement.

The pensioner, a retired pig slaughter woman, was detained in February on suspicion of murdering and dismembering a 52-year-old male street cleaner in Khabarovsk city.

His 'internal organs' were found in her fridge amid suspicions the 'Granny Ripper' was also a 'cannibal', say law enforcement.

The man, an immigrant from Ukraine, was her tenant in Berezovska, a suburb of Khabarovsk city in eastern Russia.

Earlier she had denied the killing but after being detained she changed her plea.

Neighbours say despite her weak appearance the 80-year-old is aggressive

Zhukova has now also confessed to the 2005 murder of an eight-year-old girl, a neighbour who 'got on her nerves' with her 'games' and 'running around', according to Baza news site which has close sources in law enforcement.

It was earlier reported that a child called her flat via an intercom from her apartment block's front entrance - then vanished.

She also admitted to killing an elderly woman, a friend, in 2013.

Police are checking four further unsolved murders in the area, say reports.

Sofia Zhukova is now under investigation over four more possible killings in the city of Khabarovsk

A video shows the woman walking with a stick but neighbours said she was aggressive not weak

A video shows the woman walking with a stick but neighbours said she was 'not weak (but) very aggressive'.

The footage came as police brought her to the crime scene when she confessed to disposing of her male tenant's body parts.

The case of the cleaner came to light after shocked children playing near their apartment block found a man's severed arm.

Children playing near the apartment block found a man's severed arm and police soon discovered more dismembered remains in a number of plastic bags

Fingerprints on the body parts led to the identification of the 52-year-old man who was the retired pig slaughterer's tenant

Police soon discovered more dismembered remains in a number of plastic bags.

Fingerprints on the body parts led to the identification of the 52-year-old Ukrainian tenant of the retired slaughter woman, say reports.

A law enforcement source told local news outlet DVHab: 'The bowels and other inner organs of the man were found in her fridge - and she threw away the bones.

'But dogs smelled the blood and carried the body parts all around the area.'

Traces of blood were found in her flat, according to police sources.

This is the green door of the flat where Zhukova lived. Neighbours reported hearing loud knocks from her apartment as if somebody was using an axe

Neighbours reported hearing 'loud knocks in her apartment until almost midnight, as if somebody was using an axe'.

A passport belonging to a disappeared elderly woman tenant and friend was found in Zhukova's flat - but police did not suspect the pensioner at the time.

Neighbours had also complained of the pensioner 'torturing cats'.

She formerly worked as a pig slaughterer and was in demand from local farmers because she had no qualms about 'killing living beings'.