Mass murderer Charles Manson is reportedly seriously ill in hospital. The 82-yea-old has been transported from a prison in the US state of California where he is serving a life term.

In the 1960s Manson assembled a group of runaways and outcasts who became known as the “Manson Family.”

In the summer of 1969, he instructed his followers, mostly young females, to murder a number of high-profile people.

Prosecutors said it was part of a plan to incite a race war between white and black people, that Manson believed was in The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” song.

Among the first to be murdered was Hollywood actress Sharon Tate, the wife of film director Roman Polanski, who was heavily pregnant at the time.

Tate was stabbed multiple times. Several members of Manson’s group knifed or shot to death four other people at the couple’s home.

Why are we paying to keep #charlesmanson alive? https://t.co/4ynIPp9YUz— Lisa B. (@ls_bks) January 4, 2017

In 1975, Manson devotee Lynette Fromme pointed a gun at then US President Gerald Ford in an attempted assassination. She was sentenced to life in prison.

Manson and his devotees would eventually be convicted of murdering nine people, but authorities believe the group’s victims may have numbered more than 30.

Manson was originally condemned to death. He was spared execution and his sentence was converted to life in prison after the state Supreme Court abolished the death penalty in California.