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A serial killer who murdered five women has electrocuted himself in his prison cell while performing an autoerotic sex act, it is reported.

Egidius Schiffer is believed to have accidentally killed himself while masturbating with electric shocks at Bochum Prison in Germany.

The 62-year-old had removed a cable from his table lamp before winding it around his nipples and penis, a prison official said.

He then apparently stuck the end of the cable in a power socket.

Schiffer, who was serving life for murdering the five hitchhikers between 1983 and 1990, was found 'lifeless' on his bed on Sunday.

Dubbed the 'Aachen Strangler', he was still connected to a live current when his cell was unlocked that morning, The Times reports.

"He removed a cable from his bedside table lamp, then wound it around his nipples and his penis and stuck the end in a power socket,” said prison spokeswoman Candida Tunkel.

A post-mortem examination found the serial killer died from heart failure after an electric current flowed through his chest.

According to a police report, cited by Bild, his death was likely the result of an accident "rather than a suicidal incident".

(Image: rex)

Schiffer's lawyer also said the inmate had not been suicidal, while the prison declared there was "no evidence of suicide".

The murderer, who had been locked up at the facility in Bochum for eight years, was in solitary confinement, according to WAZ .

He was last seen alive at 1pm on Saturday. An investigation has now been launched into the circumstances surrounding his death.

Schiffer was jailed for life in 2008 - 18 years after his last murder - after DNA evidence was used by police to convict him.

His five victims were all women, aged between 15 and 31.

The monster picked up his victims as they hitchhiked home in northwest Germany, before strangling them with a rope.

He raped three of them.

At the time of the horrific killings, Schiffer was married to his second wife - however, the couple divorced in 1997.

After their separation, he went on to marry his third wife.

The unemployed insurance salesman had given a DNA sample after being arrested in 2007 while stealing scrap metal. It was this evidence that led to his conviction of the unsolved murders.