Australian serial killer Milat dies in prison nearly 30 years after backpacker murders

FILE PHOTO: Australian serial killer Ivan Milat (C) is led from court during his trial in Sydney, Australia July 8, 1996. REUTERS/Megan Lewis

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Ivan Milat, one of Australia's worst convicted serial killers, has died in prison after spending 23 years behind bars for the murders of seven backpackers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, authorities said on Sunday.

Milat, 74, was serving seven consecutive life sentences after being convicted in 1996 of killing two Britons, three Germans and two Australians in a case that made grim headlines around the world.