There were some spectacular crimes which made headlines in 2007. From the mysterious disappearance of Maddie McCann to the bloody massacre at Virginia technical university, here are some of the most sensational crimes of the year.

  • Russian "chessboard killer" Alexander Pichushkin, who has proudly confessed to the murders of 48 people, is sentenced to life in prison by a Moscow court on 29 October. He was found guilty of 48 murders and three attempted murders after 10 weeks of grisly testimony. Pichushkin earlier said he intended to kill 64 people, one for each of the squares on a chessboard.

    From brutal to bizarre

  • On 16 April, a mentally disturbed South Korean student, Seung-Hui Cho, guns down 32 students in a Virginia technical university, in the bloodiest campus massacre in US history.

    An investigation reveals that officials' slow action after an initial shooting of two people likely cost lives of students and staff. At the end of the rampage, the killer turns one of his two guns on himself.

  • The probe continues into the killing of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, who died mysteriously in London from radioactive poisoning in November 2006.

    The ex-spy, a critic of Vladimir Putin's regime who had recently won British nationality, apparently accused the Russian leader of responsibility for his poisoning in a deathbed statement — a charge dismissed by the Kremlin. Moscow has refused to extradite to Britain the main suspect in the case, Andrei Lugovoi, a former agent turned businessman.

    Lugovoi was elected to the Russian parliament in December, and will enjoy immunity from prosecution.

  • Portuguese police probe the disappearance of a British toddler, Madeleine McCann, reported missing by her parents from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in southern Portugal on 3 May.

    The parents, who later mount a worldwide media campaign to "Find Maddie", were having dinner with friends in a nearby restaurant when she vanished, aged three.

    In September, the parents are named suspects in the case, but they have not been charged and strongly deny any involvement, maintaining that their daughter was abducted.

    It's a lottery!

  • In April, two bank employees are sentenced to death in China after stealing 51 million yuan ($6.6-million) and spending their spectacular heist on lottery tickets.

    Ren Xiaofeng (34), and Ma Xiangjing (37), were the vault managers at a branch of the Agricultural Bank of China in Handan city, Hebei province. They had hoped that by buying millions of yuan in tickets they would eventually win back enough to replace the missing funds and allow them to leave their low paying jobs for a life of luxury.

    AFP