Father and son cannibals who beheaded an ex-cop and cooked his body parts are jailed in Ukraine

Smirking father and son cannibal murderers have been jailed after beheading a former policeman and cooking his body parts. 

Maxim and Yaroslav Kostyukov, 42 and 21, were convicted of killing Yevgeny ‘Zhenya’ Petrov, 45, in Ukraine. 

They will serve sentences of 15 years. The three had been drinking together when a row developed over the conflict between Kyiv’s forces and pro-Moscow rebels in the eastern part of the country. 

A court heard how the son had held Petrov from behind while the father stabbed him twice in the chest. 

GRAPHIC CONTENT: The headless corpse (pictured) was found dumped near a cellar doorway close to an apartment block in Saltivka, near Kharkiv.

Yaroslav Kostyukov then severed the ex-policeman’s head and cut out flesh from the corpse as well as his heart, kidneys, liver and other internal organs. 

He confessed to cooking the ‘meat’ which was served when the father and son hosted a homeless man called Yura. 

Yaroslav later he changed his testimony to deny being the cook and claiming he ‘hardly ate’ the human ‘broth’. 

He was sick as soon as he took the first bite, he said. He claimed the homeless man had ‘feasted’ most of it. 

A court heard how the son (right) had held Petrov from behind while the father (left) stabbed him twice in the chest

But law enforcement said there was clear evidence the pair were cannibals and had cooked and eaten their victim. 

They smirked in the court cage. Prosecutor Oksana Karnaukh said: ‘There is no such crime as cannibalism listed in the Criminal Code of Ukraine. 

‘That is why the prosecution cannot include this into the charges in court. 

‘We charged them with murder and aggravating circumstances committed by a group of persons, and …illegal possession of arms.’ 

Law enforcement said there was clear evidence the pair were cannibals and had cooked and eaten their victim. Maxim (left) and Yaroslav (right) are pictured when they were detained

Yaroslav (pictured) later he changed his testimony to deny being the cook and claiming he ‘hardly ate’ the human ‘broth’

Maxim (pictured) stabbed Zhenya while his son held him by the shoulders during the killing

The headless corpse was found dumped near a cellar doorway close to an apartment block in Saltivka, near Kharkiv. 

Shocked resident Alexandra Grabeynik said: ‘I looked – and it seemed like there was no head… ‘I looked again — definitely. 

‘Detectives questioned us and told us he had no head. 

‘And then his trousers were rolled up and it turned out that they had cut meat from there.’ 

The ex-wife of the murdered man identified him from his severed head. She is claiming compensation for ‘insomnia’ after the trauma, it was reported.