A 12-year-old boy has told how he hacked a classmate to death with an axe and then dumped his body in a river for insulting his mother.

Shocked police in Achinsk, Russia, heard how the suspect, who was not named, chillingly admitted to killing his pal in the brutal attack on 16th November.

The two are said to have begun rowing when the victim, also aged 12, showed up uninvited at his schoolfriend’s home.

During the row, police heard, the boy became enraged when the victim insulted his mother and snatched up an axe.

He began, say police, swinging at his schoolpal’s neck and then finished him off with a knife, reports local media.

Apparently unaffected by the gore the young killer put his victim’s body on a cart and tipped him into the nearby Mazulka River.

Police found his butchered body the next day after his parents reported him missing.

A gruesome trail of blood literally led investigators to his home where they found further evidence of the slaughter.

Local media says the boy confessed to the murder straight away and was held in custody at the Achinsk Family Centre for juvenile offenders.

The police investigation is ongoing.