A Kent-born serial killer - known as the Gay Slayer - has died in jail.

Colin Ireland, who was born in Dartford, reportedly to a 17-year-old mother in a former workhouse, died in Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire yesterday.

He was jailed for life at the Old Bailey (pictured left) in December 1993 for the murders of five men he met in London gay bars.

While living in Southend, Essex, he visited The Coleherne pub, a gay pub in west London.

Ireland, who confessed to the crimes, claimed to be homosexual to lure the men back to their flats, where he would use rope and handcuffs to restrict his victims.

Ireland, 57, would often clean the flat and wait until the next morning before leaving the scene of the crime.

He is believed to have died of natural causes.