Notorious child killer Robert Black has died in prison in Northern Ireland.

The killer, from Grangemouth, was convicted of kidnapping and murdering four girls aged between five and 11 between 1981 and 1986.

At least three of the girls had been raped or sexually assaulted.

In 1994, Black was found guilty of three unsolved child murders in the 1980s – those of 11-year-old Susan Maxwell, from the Scottish Borders, five-year-old Caroline Hogg, from Edinburgh, and Sarah Harper, ten, from Morley, near Leeds – as well as a failed abduction bid in Nottingham in 1988.

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Black’s reign of terror was ended in 1990 when he was caught red-handed by police with a barely alive six-year-old girl hooded, bound, gagged and stuffed in a sleeping bag in the back of his van in the Scottish village of Stow. He had sexually assaulted her moments earlier.

A 1994 trial found him guilty of the three murders. A judge sentenced him to life and said he should serve at least 35 years in prison.

In 2012, he returned to the dock and was found guilty of the 1981 murder of nine-year-old Jennifer Cardy, from Ballinderry, Co Antrim. He was also suspected of involvement in other killings.

Black, who was 68, died on Tuesday at Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn.

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A NI Prison Service spokeswoman said: “The Prison Service has confirmed that a 68-year-old prisoner has died at Maghaberry Prison.

“While this is not being treated as suspicious, the Prison Service has informed the PSNI, coroner, and prisoner ombudsman. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”