A follower of cult leader Charles Manson is facing a parole hearing after serving 40 years in a California jail for her part in the Sharon Tate killings.

SUSAN ATKINS, a follower of cult leader Charles Manson whose remorseless witness stand confession to killing pregnant actress Sharon Tate in 1969 shocked the world, has died. She was 61 and had been suffering from brain cancer.

Charles Manson cult follower Susan Atkins has died in prison, the first of the remorseless killer’s gang to join their helpless victims.

CALIFORNIA prison chiefs released a new photograph yesterday of mass murderer Charles Manson, who is now 74, bald with thick grey beard.