Cult leader and murderer Charles Manson dies aged 83

Notorious cult leader and convicted murderer Charles Manson has died, aged 83.

Prison officials confirmed that Manson died of natural causes in hospital shortly after 8pm on Sunday evening. Manson was admitted to prison in April 1971 for seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of seven people in August 1969, including Sharon Tate Polanski, the wife of film director Roman Polanski. Polanski was eight months pregnant at the time of her death. Image via CDCR In December 1971, Manson received two first-degree murder convictions for the deaths of two people in July and August 1969. Manson did not commit the murders himself, but they were carried under his instruction by some of his followers, who came to be known as The Manson Family. Manson was originally sentenced to death in 1972, but his sentence was modified to life imprisonment in February 1977. He was denied parole 12 times between November 1978 and April 2012; the last parole hearing he attended was in March 1997 and he wasn’t eligible to have another parole hearing until 2027. In a statement issued on Sunday night, the Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney who prosecuted Manson, Vincent Bugliosi, described him as “an evil, sophisticated con man with twisted and warped moral values and said: “Today, Manson’s victims are the ones who should be remembered and mourned on the occasion of his death.” https://twitter.com/anblanx/status/932491450356400128