A gold-toothed Russian foster father has been accused of more than 900 counts of rape and violent sexual acts, mostly against girls aged 13 or under in his care.

Viktor Lishavsky, 37, abused five schoolgirls for whom he was the legal guardian, treating them as his 'personal harem' and 'sexual slaves', it is alleged.

The 'monster' was detained in June last year but now has been identified as more details of his alleged vile crimes have been revealed.

If convicted he would be the worst-ever paedophile in Russia, reports say.

Viktor Lishavsky, 37, has been accused of more than 900 counts of rape and violent sexual acts mostly against girls aged 13 or under in his care

He allegedly abused five schoolgirls for whom he was the legal guardian, treating them as his 'personal harem' and 'sexual slaves'. The 'monster' was detained in June last year but now has been identified as more details of his alleged vile crimes have been revealed

By day he ran a shoe repair shop but at night he regularly attacked the adolescent girls in his care over a five year period, it is alleged.

He was detained in Komsomolsk-on-Amur after one foster girl complained to a teacher who alerted police about a man who was previously head of an evangelical church in Amursk in Russia's Far East.

Other underage girls in his foster family then shared details of how he took them one-by-one to a flat and sexually abused them.

He is accused of 248 rapes plus 358 'violent sexual acts' against girls aged 13 or under, according to a leaked charge sheet.

Additionally, he faces accusations of another 22 'violent acts of a sexual nature' against girls below the age of 14.

Lishavsky allegedly committed a further 11 rapes or other brutal sexual attacks in which he threatened murder or serious harm to health. These involved 'particular cruelty', according to the charges.

Several other charges relate to torturing the girls and abusing his role as a guardian.

Separately, Lishavsky is accused of a further 122 crimes of 'a sexual nature with the use of violence, or threat of violence', and 151 charges of 'sexual intercourse taking advantage of the helpless state of the victim' - all these against underage girls between 14 and 17, according to Mash online news outlet which has links to law enforcement and named him, revealing details of the indictments.

LIshavsky (pictured in a car next to one of the girls who was allegedly in his care) was detained in Komsomolsk-on-Amur after one foster girl complained to a teacher who alerted police about a man who was previously head of an evangelical church in Amursk in Russia's Far East

Social services in the Khabarovsk region are also accused of negligence in putting vulnerable children including orphans under his supervision.

Lishavsky and his common-law wife Olga are reported to have had three children of their own, and to have fostered up to nine more youngsters.

No charges have been brought against her.

When the case first emerged, officials said an unnamed man had been accused of 729 sexual crimes, but now the figure totals 919 - all but a handful involving sex abuse.

He 'considered the girls to be his personal harem', according to a report by Ren TV.

'With the money that the government paid him as a foster parent, he rented an apartment where he had sex with either one or another foster daughter every other day, or every third day,' the network said.

The man was paid £265 a month by the state to care for each of the five adolescent girls he abused.

Officials in the Khabarovsk region of eastern Russia are said to be 'deeply shocked' over the allegations against a man they viewed as a 'model foster father'.

Alla Kuznetsova, education minister in the region, said the foster parents had passed repeated inspections by social services.

Lishavsky and his common-law wife Olga (pictured above) are reported to have had three children of their own, and to have fostered up to nine more youngsters. No charges have been brought against her

Lishavsky's wife, Olga, is pictured above, second from right in the front row, with children who were in the couple's care

'In the case of this family, there were no alarms at all,' she said.

In the first year there were five inspections. In subsequent years, two checks annually, she said.

She confirmed: 'Those five girls for whom the man was guardian have been sent back to the orphanage.'

Local fostering chief Tatiana Petrachkova claimed the alleged paedophile and his wife were seen as 'a trouble-free family' who had won commendations for the way they raised children.

His foster children were shown on local TV as an example of a successful family helping deprived youngsters.

Senior official of the Russian Investigative Committee Igor Komissarov expressed dismay over the alleged reign of terror from 2012 to February 2017.

'Just imagine these girls who were given to a rapist,' he was quoted as saying.

'Why in Khabarovsk region did the so-called foster dad have the opportunity to rape children under his control for five years?'

He claimed a drive by Vladimir Putin's government to close orphanages - many dating from the Soviet era - had had the unintended consequence of seeing children taken on by unsuitable foster parents who abused or exploited them, often sexually.

People had come forward to act as foster parents motivated by the money they were paid by the state, he said.