OJ Simpson, football star turned celebrity murder defendant, dead at 76

In a post on social media, the Simpson family said he had 'succumbed to his battle with cancer'

Former American Football star and actor Orenthal James 'OJ' Simpsons has died at the age of 76, his family has announced. Picture: AP Photo/Isaac Brekken

OJ Simpson, the American football star and actor who was acquitted in a sensational 1995 trial of murdering his former wife but was found responsible for her death in a civil lawsuit and was later imprisoned for armed robbery and kidnapping, has died at the age of 76.

Simpson, cleared by a Los Angeles jury in what the US media called "the trial of the century," had died on Wednesday after a battle with cancer, his family posted on social media on Thursday.