A serial killer dubbed ‘The Serpent’ and who inspired the BBC drama of the same name has walked free from a Nepalese prison.

A court allowed the release of Charles Sobhraj, 78, ending nearly 20 years of captivity, citing good behaviour and his age.

He has been ordered back to his native France within 15 days.

Sobhraj was driven out of Central Jail in Kathmandu in a heavily guarded police convoy to the Department of Immigration, where he will wait for his travel documents to be prepared.

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Sobhraj spent 19 years in jail for murdering two tourists in Kathmandu in 1975 and has been linked to a string of other tourist murders in the 1970s.

Read more: Evening Standard