Donald Neilson, the serial killer known as the Black Panther, has died in prison at the age of 75.

Neilson, was given four life sentences in July 1975 for the kidnap and murder of a 17-year-old girl and the murders of three sub-postmasters, and was told he would never be released. A charge of killing another man, security guard Gerald Smith, was left on file.

The teenage girl, Lesley Whittle, was held in a disused ventilation shaft 50ft below ground where Neilson forced her to record a succession of ransom pleas.

His death reduces to 46 the number of "whole-life tariff" prisoners, who have been sentenced to die in jail. The group includes the Moors murderer Ian Brady, the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, Rosemary West and the Ipswich serial killer Steve Wright.

A prison service spokesman said Neilson, who reportedly had been suffering for some years from motor neurone disease, was taken to hospital from HMP Norwich on Saturday after suffering breathing difficulties.

"He was pronounced dead there at approximately 6.45pm on Sunday 18 December. As with all deaths in custody, the independent prisons and probation ombudsman will conduct an investigation," the spokesman said.

Neilson, from Bradford, was a former soldier and jobbing builder who enjoyed "anything where he could show his physical prowess", Jerry Corfield, a boyhood schoolfriend, told reporters in 1976. Neilson was said to have relished life during national service in Kenya, Aden and Cyprus, but his wife, Irene, persuaded him to leave the service and settle down in Bradford ahead of the birth of their daughter Kathryn. In 1960, he changed his name by deed poll from Nappey to Neilson.

He struggled to earn a living as a carpenter before his taxi and security guard firms both flopped, and by the mid to late 1960s he was carrying out hundreds of burglaries to supplement his income. He graduated to armed robbery, in particular targeting post offices, planning each raid meticulously and showing no compunction about using violence if challenged.

He first killed in February 1974 when, during a raid on a Harrogate sub-post office, he shot dead the postmaster Donald Skepper. A similar robbery in September the same year ended with the murder of Derek Astin, postmaster in Baxenden, near Accrington, Lancashire.

His third victim was Sidney Grayland, shot dead nine weeks later during a raid on the post office at Langley, in the West Midlands.

Neilson was dubbed the Black Panther by the media in reference to his habit of wearing black clothes and balaclava, and after the wife of one of his victims commented that he had moved quickly, "like a panther".

"The public loved it, didn't they?" an unrepentant Neilson would joke in a TV documentary years later. "I mean, it filled its purpose. If they had called me the Pink Panther you wouldn't have got half the response."

Despite an enormous manhunt in which more than 30,000 people were interviewed, Neilson evaded capture, thanks to policing failures and inaccurate descriptions given by his surviving victims.

On 14 January 1975, Neilson staged his most audacious and brutal crime, kidnapping Whittle from her bed while her mother, Dorothy, was asleep in a neighbouring room. Neilson had read about a family dispute in which the girl was reportedly to inherit £82,000 from her father.

Whittle was bound and driven to Bathpool park in Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, where she was held in a ventilation shaft. Her family made a number of botched attempts to rendezvous with Neilson to deliver the money; on one occasion her brother, Ronald, was directed to a spot in the park just metres from where she was being held underground.

Whittle's body was found on 7 March 1975, hanging from a wire at the bottom of the shaft. It is not known whether she fell from the ledge where she was tethered or was pushed by Neilson, but the condition of her body suggested she had starved for some time before she died. Her killer later taunted the police for their failure to find her sooner, saying: "Somebody is to blame. I hold you responsible."

Neilson was caught in December 1975 when two policemen spotted him acting suspiciously by a roadside near Mansfield. Challenged by the officers, he produced a shotgun and forced them to drive him to a nearby village; they eventually overpowered him.

In 2008, Neilson appealed to the high court against his whole-life tariff, arguing that a 30-year term should apply. Mr Justice Teare said there "are and were no mitigating features" of his crimes, and ruled that he must die in prison.