Investigation in to the death of World's End killer Angus Sinclair

A Fatal Accident Inquiry is to be held into the death of the World’s End killer Angus Sinclair, it has been announced.

Sinclair, one of Scotland’s most notorious serial killers, died at Glenochil Prison in March this year. It is understood he died from a series of strokes.

The inquiry (FAI) is mandatory for anyone who dies in custody in Scotland.

Angus Sinclair in 1977.

Sinclair spent more than half his life behind bars for killing four girls, including the World’s End murders, as well as for a string of sex attacks on young children.

Teenagers Helen Scott and Christine Eadie went missing after last being seen at the World's End pub on Edinburgh's Royal Mile in October 1977. They were found dead six miles apart in the East Lothian countryside the next day.

Their killings were among the most high profile 'cold cases' on file in Scotland until advances in DNA technology pointed authorities towards Sinclair.

His conviction in 2014 for raping and murdering the teenagers resulted in him receiving the longest minimum sentence imposed by a Scottish court.

Sinclair was ordered to spend a minimum of 37 years in jail for the crimes – the same number of years the families of victims Christine Eadie and Helen Scott waited for justice.

But he was already in jail, having been locked up since 1982 for sexually assaulting girls between the ages of six and 14.

While still in prison for the attacks, Sinclair was given a life sentence in 2001 for the murder of the Glasgow teenager Mary Gallacher in 1978.

He had previously served six years behind bars for killing a seven-year-old girl in 1961.

Aged 16, he pleaded guilty to culpable homicide, admitting strangling Catherine Reehill in Glasgow and dumping her body on a tenement stairway. It meant he spent about 40 years of his life locked up.

A date for the inquiry is yet to be fixed.