Killer nanny who beheaded four-year-old girl was left alone after partner fled back to wife

Pictures show the moment a babysitter took Russian police to the grisly scene where she beheaded a four-year-old girl. Photo / NTV-east2west news

• Gyulchekhra Bobokulova, 38, told police she had been haunted by 'voices'
• Babysitter showed police where she beheaded girl, 4, she was caring for
• Reports she was angry her husband in Uzbekistan had started a new family
• Others claim she met boyfriend in Moscow then found out he was married
• Body of Anastasia Meshcheryakova was found at burnt-out block of flats

The 'killer nanny' who beheaded a four-year-old girl in Moscow kept her schizophrenia a secret and was "kicked on to the streets" after a divorce, a police source has revealed.

Gyulchekhra Bobokulova had been registered at a psychiatric clinic in her homeland Uzbekistan - and her condition had been deteriorating in recent months, the source said.

In scenes that shocked the world yesterday, the hijab-wearing nanny, 38, was seen walking the streets of Moscow brandishing the head of Nastya Meshcheryakova for an hour before she was detained by police.

Pictures emerged today of her being interrogated in a police station in the Russian capital as conflicting reports continued to emerge about her personal life.

Escorted by armed police, handcuffed Bobokulova - herself a mother of three - earlier showed officers the Moscow flat where she apparently strangled Nastya, who had learning difficulties, before cutting off her head with a kitchen knife. The little girl's remains were left in her cot.

It emerged today that the nanny had been married for 12 years and divorced "not long ago" in her native Uzbekistan, according to LifeNews, which obtained brief footage of her confused interrogation in a Moscow police station.

After the marriage she was kicked into the street, it was claimed, with her three children all going to different relatives in the Samarkand region of Uzbekistan.

She met a new partner a year ago, and agreed to be his "second, unofficial wife" but four months ago he returned to his home country and she has not seen him since.

"My second husband was born in 1967. I was just seeing him," she said. "But he hasn't been around for four months, he left.

"He took me as his second wife and is now living with his first wife. I have no husband officially now. My first husband was born in 1975."

Gyulchehra Bobokulova carried the head through Moscow streets yelling "Allahu Akbar". Photo / Twitter

Meanwhile, MK claimed that Bobokulova's relatives have undergone interrogation in a village in Samarkand region.

A police source in the ex-Soviet republic said: "The parents of Bobokulova and her husband were called to police for interrogation.

"They spent full day in police, and on Tuesday morning the interrogation continued.

"I can tell you only one thing - the relatives are shocked with the cruel murder but they were not surprised. They know very well why Gyulchekhra did it."

He continued: "Everybody here knew Gyulchekhra. She was a strange woman, to put it mildly.

"There is an explanation: she had schizophrenia. She was registered in the local psychiatric clinic for a long time and had special medical documents. Everybody knew it.

"She failed to find a job here for this very reason. Strange things often happened to her in spring time. Her parents watched her and tried to send her to the psychiatric clinic when spring came.

"Her condition was gradually deteriorating. Before it was not that noticeable but as time was going, it got worse."

He claimed that 15 years ago she was in hospital for two years, and she had been back since.

"Soon after that she left for Moscow and easily found a job there. She often visited her family, for new year and other holidays.

"Probably she fooled the medical commission in Russia, if she had to face it.

"People here were talking about it. She did not take any medical documents with her. She did not tell anybody about her condition."

He said she had three children, in their late teens or early 20s.

"She did not live with her husband for good while. In 2000 Gyulchekhra was officially registered as an insane.

"She was very ill then, she often suffered from attacks. It was dangerous to live with her, so her husband Radmin left her.

"Officially they divorced in 2002. Radmin quickly remarried, and he has two more children. The eldest son lives with Gyulchekhra's parents, the younger ones are with their father.

"So Radmin and his second wife take care of four children. Radmin is not working now, neither his wife. It is very hard to find a job here now. Gyulchekhra did not support her relatives with money."

The policeman added: "I don't know what her parents think now. The daughter was not under their control for a long time. All villagers are talking about it now but they are surprised she did not do anything like that before."

Bobokulova is believed to be co-operating with investigators and showed how she killed the child, with sources saying she strangled the girl before using a kitchen knife to behead her.

She shouted "I am a terrorist" and threatened to cause an explosion but, despite the FSB security service leading the probe, the Russians so far have no evidence of a link to extremist groupings.

Bobokulova was taken to the flat in western Moscow at around midnight - only 16 hours after the appalling killing to which - say police sources - she has confessed.

"Initially, she seemed insane, but then agreed to the investigative experiment," said a police source.

"She was brought to the apartment where the murder was committed. She pointed to the block, the entrance and the apartment by herself."

The woman - a citizen of Uzbekistan - is seen talking to police, and appears to understand where and why she is at the location.

She spoke to her police escorts but was only overheard once, saying: "Here is the house, that way."

She entered the block with officers who escorted her to the fifth floor flat where she lived with the Meshcheryakov family whose daughter was killed.

A police source claimed she said: "I came here and took off my skirt, threw it in a rubbish bin. Got changed into what we wear to have prayer. A voice told me to wear so."

As she came out a women in the crowd shouted: "You killed a child! Your head needs to be torn off!"

Police tried to calm the woman as Bobokulova was bundled into a police van.

A source said she told police: "I came here and took off my skirt, threw it in a rubbish bin. Got changed into what we wear to have prayer. A voice told me to wear so."

The parents were being comforted by friends and relatives after their daughter's horrific death. Nastya - or Anastasia - had special needs after problems during her birth.

The nanny "cared for her like her own child", according to one source.

The beheaded remains of the four-year-old were found in a cot in the family flat, dressed in her night clothes, a T-short and shorts. On her blanket was a picture of a kitten.

The Kremlin backed decisions by Russian media organisations not to show gruesome pictures of the crime scene inside the flat.

Bobokulova told police that she went home to Uzbekistan less than two months ago and found her husband had a new wife and had started a family.

A source told LifeNews: "In her first testimony Bobokulova said that just over a month ago, she went to her homeland, to Uzbekistan to renew her passport.

"When she got to her home, she learned that her husband had started a new family. She was invited to become a second wife. In total, she spent 25 days there."

It is reported that when she returned to Russia, she complained to Nastya's family about her spouse, accusing him of cheating on her.

The family problems caused her "acute manic psychosis", claimed the report.

Nastya's parents, Vladimir and Ekaterina, noticed her "unstable mind" but believed it was caused by fatigue, according to one account.

The nanny had worked for the family in Moscow for around three years.

A family friend denied that Ekaterina - known as Katya - had noticed anything strange in the nanny's behaviour.

"Believe me, if something was wrong, Katya would not miss this moment," she said. "She is a shrewd woman, she would notice.

'"he trusted Gyulchekhra fully. More than this she considered her family member. Everyone called her just Gulya.

"They all lived in one flat. That is why Katya and Vladimir rented a big flat with two bedrooms, so they all had enough space."

The friend told MK newspaper that the nanny had looked after the child since she was a baby.

"The child was seriously ill. Katya simply could not cope by herself," she said.

They hired the nanny "on recommendation" and she had previously worked for another Moscow family.

"She had the best recommendations. Do you think that Katya would have entrusted the child to some unreliable people? She checked the woman on all counts.

"Many famous people hire Tajiks or Uzbeks as nannies. They care for children very well. Any child care agency will confim this.

"So what happened does not fit in our heads. And the parents have no answer why Gulya did this.

"How was it possible to live with the child, and then burn the house down and kill her? And after all that to go out and shout: 'I am a terrorist?'"

"Gulya herself is a mother of three. Her children live in Uzbekistan. There were no jobs there, so she worked in Moscow and sent them money home."

She did not normally wear a hijab.

"We were surprised when we saw the pictures near the metro. Where did Gulya take all these rags?

"Most of our friends have never seen even a scarf on her. But those who are very close to Katya and Vladimir said that she had these clothes.

"She kept it in a wardrobe and wore it very rarely. She was not very religious. It was said that she prays, but quietly, not for show. We all thought that she loved Nastya as her own child."

She added: "The parents state can not be described in words. This is a terrible grief for their family.

"Katya is very bad. I do not know how long it will take her to get over this."

Investigators claim she murdered the girl after starting a fire at the child's family home in a block of flats.

They say she then murdered the girl and left, before heading to the metro station.

According to local media, Bobokulova shouted in the street: "I hate democracy. I am a terrorist. I want you dead.

'"You have become so hardened, you have eliminated so many of us. Look I am a suicide bomber, I will die, doomsday will come in a second."

She pulled the severed head out of a bag and walked near the metro station entrance in north-west Moscow.

Video of the dead girl's mother, Ekaterina Meshcheryakova, collapsing in the street upon hearing the horrific news has emerged. She was taken to hospital in an unconscious condition.

Anastasia also had a father, Vladimir Meshcheryakov, who is a technician at a mobile phone company, and a brother Konstantin, 15.

The main entrance to the block of flats was being guarded by armed police yesterday.

Eyewitness Alexandra Shuvalova, a student from the capital, said: 'When I got close to the metro, I saw a woman running along the street.

"I could see that she had hair in her hands or something like that.

"She was waving this thing and screaming something and drawing some shapes in the air.

'This woman either had a birthmark or a wart on her right cheek. It was a distinctive feature because she was dressed in entirely in black.

"I realised it wasn't a wig as I thought initially, but a head - that's why blood was dripping on her shoes and skirt.

"I stopped, had a cigarette, tried to get my breath back to normal because I was so shocked."

She claimed a security guard and two policeman missed the chance to detain her.

Alexandra added: "People ran away from her. I saw five people fleeing. And no one tried to stop her - not security guards at a cafe, nor at a shop.

"One of the guards who saw her, ran to the building to tell someone about her. He didn't try to do anything on his own."

"I heard her yelling 'Allah Akbar' at least three times. And hitting herself on her chest.

"She was yelling something in her language. She ran to a cafe and started shouting: 'It's all you! All you!'"

The station was closed to passengers for some time, but no explosives were found on her.

Another eyewitness said: "She came to the entrance of the metro station Oktyabrskoye Pole with a red bag, from which she pulled out the child's head.

"She walked down the street for a long time and was shouting something. But no one challenged her. Everyone was afraid."

Dramatic footage shows the moment police sprinted in towards the woman and tackled her to the ground.

Emergency services had earlier been called to an apartment nearby amid reports of black smoke billowing out of windows.

Firefighters rescued four people and put out the blaze - but then found the child's beheaded body

Witness Alyona Kuratova told independent Dozhd TV that the woman was holding the head by its hair.

Kuratova described scenes of chaos, with police cars and ambulances arriving at the scene and some people yelling: "terror attack, terror attack."

She said she could not make out what the woman shouted but some media reported that she yelled "Allah Akbar''- Arabic for 'God is greatest' - and threatened to blow herself up.

The dead girl suffered damage because of birth problems in August 2011.

The family took her for treatment to China - and were saving money to travel for subsequent care in Germany.

The parents told police the nanny had been working for them for 18 months.

Sources say the babysitter told interrogators she did not want to hide from police, and aimed to draw maximum attention to what she has done.

She had not intended to ignite the flat deliberately and destroy evidence, she said, according to the source, and wanted the parents to know who had killed their daughter.

The woman had a valid residency permit for Russia but was working illegally. She had no work permit, said officials.

The nanny faces up to 20 years in jail if she is deemed psychologically fit to stand trial.

Last night the investigation was taken over by the FSB, Russia's powerful domestic secret service, once headed by Vladimir Putin. Police are not currently treating the incident as terrorism.

LifeNews claimed: "Investigators suspect that Gulchekhra had manic psychosis developing for a period of time."

A law enforcement source said the woman was suspected of handling 'explosive elements' at the flat which was engulfed in flames.

But "it might be an inflammable liquid that she used to set the apartment on fire where she killed four-year-old Nastya M".

The security services are hunting for the woman's husband. A source said she may have been on "light drugs".

Russia's children's rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov called the killing "Monstrous and inexplicable", urging parents to carefully check on the mental state of nannies when they are hired.

-Daily Mail