Hippy death cult leader Manson dies

Crime: Murder orchestrator dies at 83

Charles Manson, the hippy cult leader who became the face of evil across America after masterminding gruesome murders in Los Angeles during the summer of 1969, has died after nearly a half-century in prison. He was 83. Manson died on Sunday night of natural causes at a California hospital while serving a life sentence.

Michele Hanisee, president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys for Los Angeles County, reacted to the death by quoting the late Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor who put Manson behind bars.

Mr Bugliosi said: “Manson was an evil, sophisticated con man with twisted and warped moral values.”

“Today, Manson’s victims are the ones who should be remembered and mourned on the occasion of his death,” Ms Hanisee said.

A petty criminal who had been in and out of jail since childhood, the charismatic, guru-like Manson surrounded himself in the 1960s with runaways and other lost souls and then sent his disciples to butcher some of LA’s rich and fa- mous in what prosecutors said was a bid to trigger a race war.

Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Manson maintained during his tumultuous trial in 1970 that he was innocent.

The Manson Family, as his followers were called, slaughtered five victims on August 9, 1969: the actress, Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, hairdresser Jay Sebring, Polish movie director Voityck Frykowski and Steven Parent, a friend of the estate’s caretaker.

Tate’s husband, director Roman Polanski, was out of the country at the time.

FACE OF EVIL: Charles Manson never apologised for the series of murders