Irina Viktorovna Gaidamachuk (Russian: ?????Russia's worst woman serial killer dubbed 'Satan in a Skirt' after murdering 17 pensioners in eight year reign of terror Alcoholic killer Irina Gaidamachuk claimed she carried out her horrific crimes to steal money for vodka Victims had their skulls smashed in with a hammer or axe by Gaidamachuk who pretended to be a social worker Police initially believed only a male killer could be so cruel, but investigation turned on account of sole survivor By Will Stewart - DailyMail.co.uk June 5, 2012 Mother of two Irina Gaidamachuk dubbed 'Satan in a Skirt', posed as a social worker to gain entry to the flats of her victims.'Satan in a skirt' confesses to 17 murders A Russian woman dubbed 'satan in a skirt' has confessed to murdering seventeen female pensioners for cash in a brutal eight-year murder spree By Andrew Osborn - Telegraph.co.uk October 29, 2011 Irina Gaidamachuk, a 40-year-old mother of two, said she had murdered the female OAPs in the Sverdlov region south-east of Moscow for money, robbing them of sums as little as the equivalent of GBP20.Serial killer case hearings start in Ekaterinburg By Dmitry Antonenkov, edited by Karina Ayvazova - En.gazeta.ru February 13, 2012 Ekaterinburg city court has started hearings on the case of 40-year old Irina Gaydamachuk, who is accused of murdering 17 pensioners.Forensic psychiatric examination conducted in GNTSSSP Serbsky showed that Gaidamachuk, although she showed some variation in the mind, was legally sane."The detainee has confessed to the murders," Alexander Shulga, a spokesman for the investigators working on the case told the daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper.Dubbed 'satan in a skirt' by local media in her home town of Krasnoufimsk, her killing spree lasted from 2002 until 2010 and reportedly only came to an end after a suspicious neighbour tipped off the police.Wikipedia.org Russian serial killer Irina Gaidamachuk jailed WikiNews.org June 6, 2012 A court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg has sent serial killer Irina Gaidamachuk to prison for twenty years."At some point, Gaidamachuk decided she would never be caught, and started searching for victims among the people she knew," investigator Kirill Melenkov told Komsomolskaya Pravda.The criminal case against Gaidamachuk consists of 436 charges, and psychiatric tests ruled that she is mentally competent."The proof of her guilt is that during an investigative experiment she pointed out the exact addresses where the crimes took place and described the situation including all the details. In addition, her fingerprints matched the prints left at several murder scenes."In each case, she gained entry to her elderly victim's flat using subterfuge before lashing out at their heads with a hammer or an axe.Another woman, Marina Valeeva, was initially suspected for the crimes and after pressure from authorities, Valeeva initially confessed to the murders of Gaidamachuk's elderly victims.Gaidamachuk gave a confession to the indictment during the preliminary investigation; but, contested this throughout her trial.She changed tactic for her final victim, Alexandra Povaritsyna, 81, opting to pose as a decorator.'A court in Yekaterinburg, which is Russia's fourth biggest city, heard evidence from psychiatrists that she was sane when she committed her murders.But her lawyer Suren Sarkisyan demanded greater leniency, and has vowed to appeal the sentence.In June 2002, a series of horrifying murders started in the small town of Krasnoufimsk which later spread to the rest of the Sverdlovsk region.Investigators searched for the criminal in various ways, including checking all the blond women in the region.'Blonde with a hammer' killed 17 pensioners over 8 years Rt.com January 17, 2012 A female serial killer that brutally murdered 17 pensioners in the Urals has been brought to trial by local police.For over eight years, 40-year-old single mother Irina Gaidamachuk was attacking old ladies in the Sverdlovsk region.Murders The majority of Gaidamachuk's crimes were committed in Krasnoufimsk.Similar crimes had been committed in Yekaterinburg, Serov, Achit and Druzhinino.Gaidamachuk attacked her victims in the Urals region pretending she was a social worker so they let her into their flats.Police followed up descriptions from neighbours of the bogus tradeswoman.After securing their trust, the 41-year-old killed them by smashing their skulls with a hammer or an axe.After she bludgeoned the pensioner to death, neighbours gave a description of the painter and police arrested her.But there was outrage among her relatives of her elderly victims that the killer was only sentenced to 20-years in prison.When the victims trustfully let the neatly dressed woman in, the killer knocked them on the head with a hammer, searched their flats and took away whatever money she found.Investigation continued for five years, with police questioning 3,000 witnesses and 21 victims; the officers conducted more than 2,000 forensic examinations.Only one woman, an elderly pensioner called Bilbinur Makshaeva, is said to have survived.Biography Gaidamachuk was born in the town of Nyagan.Subsequently, her parents were deprived of parental authority.Her husband Yuri reportedly refused to provide Gaidamachuk with money for fear that she would spend the money on alcohol.The investigation was troubled by the gender of the perpetrator; the possibility of a female killer was not considered until a woman survived.Gaidamachuk was deemed sane.Only one pensioner managed to escape, giving police the vital clue that the granny killer was a woman.They also arrested the wrong woman, Irina Valeyeva, then 29, extracting a confession from an entirely innocent person.For her final victim instead of posing as a social worker, she offered to redecorate 81-year-old Alexandra Povaritsyna's flat.Investigators found out that the murderer preferred to number their victims - they wrote number of every victim on the walls of their house entrances.Investigators found Irina Gaidamachuk after another murder in May 2010.As the investigation found out, Gaidamachuk targeted lonely women aged 61-89.For several days, should would watch her potential victims to find out when they left home, where they went, and whether the pensioners were visited by any relatives.In 2010, after eight years of brutal murders, a lucky coincidence helped capture the serial killer.She would then ransack their flats to make it look like a burglary, sometimes even setting a fire, before making off with any cash.Her hauls varied from the equivalent of just GBP20 to GBP330.Court Gaidamachuk was charged with 17 counts of murders and 1 attempted murder.On June 12, 2012, Gaidamachuk was sentenced to 20 years in prison.Gaidamachuk, 40, killed seventeen elderly women so she could rob them.The first murder was in 2003 and Gaidamachuk was not detained until June 2010.After the lone survivor's account, police still considered it possible the killer was a man dressed as a woman.Innocent woman Irina Valeyeva was arrested and confessed.More than 3,000 people were questioned before Gaidamachuk was caught.She must pay expenses for her prosecution."I lived with her for 14 years but never suspected anything" said Gaidamachuk's husband, Yury.'My husband Yury wouldn't give me money for vodka.Irina has two children.??????????