Braintree: Double Murderer Dies In Prison

A man ordered to serve the rest of his life in prison for torturing and murdering his former partner and two-year-old daughter in Essex has died.

50-year-old David Oakes was jailed last year after Chelmsford Crown Court heard he went to Christine Chambers's house in Braintree where he subjected her to "degrading assaults'' before shooting her and their daughter Shania with a shotgun.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed that Oakes had died from natural causes after being taken to hospital. 

A Prison Service spokesman said: "HMP Frankland prisoner David Robert Oakes died at hospital on Monday.

"He is presumed to have died from natural causes.

"As with all deaths in custody, the Independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation.''