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The pregnant daughter of Russia's worst-ever serial killer is seeking psychiatric advice on whether her unborn son could inherit his grandfather's "maniac traits".

Mikhail Popkov - nicknamed The Werewolf - claims he began his killing spree after his wife Elaine got together with a new man.

The mass murderer is believed to have murdered 81 women.

New pictures of the 52-year-old former policeman have emerged of him happily posing before the cameras on skiing and cycling holidays during the 18 years he avoided arrest.

Another shows him demonstrating to armed police how he killed one of his victims.

(Image: WILL STEWART)

Yet he had a hidden and sinister persona and new confessions of 59 killings of women aged from 17 to 38 - in addition to 22 murders for which he is serving a life sentence - mean he is the worst-ever killer in Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Until now, his daughter Ekaterina, a 30-year-old teacher also known as Katya, has found it impossible to believe that her "loving" father could be the man who violently raped his victims before butchering them with axes, knives or screwdrivers.

Married and expecting a baby, she is reported today to being seeking psychiatric advice because she is concerned her unborn son "can inherit the maniacal inclination of his grandfather".

She has not seen him since he was convicted of 22 murders in 2015, but she now said she wants to "look into his eyes and understand if he really could be that killer".

(Image: WILL STEWART)

Katya wants her father to undergo analysis by Russia's top psychiatrists.

She revealed she never saw bruises or cuts on him and cannot believe his victims did not fight back, nor did he ever show any violence towards her or her mother, Katya insisted.

"Watch how a butcher works, he is covered in blood from head to toe," she said. "Did the women lay down meekly by themselves?

"I bet they would leave marks - bites or scratches. You cannot hide this. But my father did not have any suspicious marks on his body or face."

(Image: WILL STEWART)

Meanwhile, Alexey Mulyavin, 45, has been identified as the new lover of Popkov's wife Elena, 50.

The Werewolf blamed the affair for his craving to punish women, reported The Siberian Times .

Mr Mulyavin said he had a short affair with her before her husband began butchering women.

"He did not catch us red handed, but he learned about it," said he said.

"You know, it was a very short affair. We were young. And probably everyone has love affairs at work."

Popkov told previously how he found used condoms at his home and accused Elena of an affair.

(Image: WILL STEWART)

She denied it, saying she let some friends use their house for an assignation.

He was sure his wife had cheated on him and said: "This was the impetus for my future."

He stressed: "If I had seen the treason with my own eyes, I would perhaps have done everything differently. Everyone goes through such things differently.

"Some take it easily and forget, others take it painfully. What happened with me? The worst-case scenario."

(Image: Channel 1;The Siberian Times)

New pictures show two of his victims Marina Chetverikova and Anna Motofonova, both 20, killed together.

Their bodies were found in February 1998 in a forest in Irkutsk region.

Popkov's sister - also called Elena - said that he fooled the entire family, who believed him to be a "normal" man.

"If he was wearing a mask, we were not aware of it," she said.