Charles Manson dead aged 83

Charles Manson, who led 1960s murder cult the Manson Family, has died at the age of 83, according to reports.

The sister of actress Sharon Tate, the most high profile of the cult’s victims, told CBS Los Angeles that she had been contacted on Sunday night by prison officials, who informed her of the notorious criminal’s death.

Manson had been removed from the protective custody unit of Corcoran State Prison in California - his home since 1989 - earlier this week, TMZ reported, for treatment at a hospital in Bakersfield.

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The killer's health had deteriorated in recent years, and in January he was deemed too frail to undergo surgery to repair an intestinal lesion, RTE reported at the time.

Manson had spent his life incarcerated in various California prisons since 1971, when he was convicted of first-degree murder, despite never participating personally in his cult’s violent crimes.

As the head of the Manson Family, Manson brainwashed his followers with visions of “Helter Skelter”, an apocalyptic race war that he believed was imminent, based on his interpretation of the Bible and lyrics on The Beatles’ White Album.

To trigger this race war, Manson instructed trusted members of the cult to carry out two notorious murders in August 1969.

In the early hours of 9 August 1969, four members of the Manson Family broke into a house formerly occupied by a record producer who had snubbed aspiring musician Manson.

Manson’s lieutenant, Tex Watson, and three female followers butchered the new occupants - actress Sharon Tate, the heavily pregnant wife of director Roman Polanski, her three friends and an 18-year-old boy visiting the property’s caretaker.

The next night, Watson and two female cult members tied up and stabbed Leon and Rosemary LaBianca to death in their Los Angeles home.

In 1971, Manson was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for his role in orchestrating the killings.

At his last parole hearing in 2012, the parole board described Manson as unhinged and remorseless and denied him permission to reapply for release until 2027, when he would have been 92 years old.