Urals man killed wife 'believing she was a vampire'

Ivan Chetin, aged 53, had been on a drinking spree "when he took an axe and started to chop everything around him". 

'He severed her hands, legs and head and also chopped off her breasts,' say local reports.

'It seemed to him that he was surrounded by vampires,' disclosed a source at the Kudymkar branch of the Investigative Committee of Russia.

'The man grabbed an axe and began to fight them. As a result, he struck his wife, then chopped her body and put the bleeding pieces to the bath.'

Having sobered up the man realised what he had done and confessed to his niece. She called the police who detained the 'axeman'. 

Chetin is awaiting trial and faced the prospect of up to 15 years in jail if found guilty of murdering his wife. 

His 54 year old spouse - who was not named -  was 'kind and loved Ivan', said a neighbour.

'She always kept their house tidy, and was very friendly'.