Mass murderer Manson to marry in prison

This handout image released by the California State Prison, Corcoran, taken on March 18, 2009, shows mass murderer Charles Manson. The now 74-year-old cult leader is serving a life sentence for conspiring to murder seven people, including actress Sharon Tate and coffee heiress Abigail Folger in 1969. AFP

He may not be everyone’s idea of a good catch, but mass murderer Charles Manson has been granted a marriage license to wed a 26-year-old woman who has been visiting him in prison.

Manson, 80, who is serving a life sentence for slaying seven people, plans to marry Afton Elaine Burton, 54 years his junior and described in US media as a slender brunette.

“He has received a marriage license,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told AFP on Monday.

The license was applied for on November 7, according to the website for King’s County, California, where Manson is in jail, but no date for the nuptials has been set.

Manson has been in prison for more than four decades after the 1969 killings, which included the brutal murder of director Roman Polanski’s wife, Sharon Tate, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant.