Polygamist sect leader in coma

Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was taken to hospital in Texas in a medically-induced coma after fasting in the weeks since receiving a life sentence for sexually assaulting underage followers he took as spiritual brides.

The 55-year-old head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was critical but expected to survive, an official familiar with Jeffs’ medical condition said.

During Jeffs’ trial, prosecutors used DNA evidence to show he fathered a child with a 15-year-old and played an audio recording of what they said was him sexually assaulting a 12-year-old.

Both were among 24 underage wives whom prosecutors said Jeffs collected.