Robin Stanislaw Ligus died at the age of 70 on December 16, Birmingham and Solihull Coroner's Court confirmed. He killed Robert Young, Trevor Bradley and Brian Coles in the 1990s

A serial killer who set a man's body alight in a burning car and beat another one to death with an iron bar has died at the age of 70.

Robin Stanislaw Ligus, who was jailed for life in 1996, died in the Birmingham area on December 16, 2022, Birmingham and Solihull Coroner's Court confirmed today.

An inquest will begin at the court, in Steelhouse Lane, on January 9, Birmingham Live reports.

Ligus killed Robert Young, Trevor Bradley and Brian Coles in the 1990s.

Mr Young, 75, died during a burglary at his Shrewsbury home in 1994 and two years later Ligus was jailed for life.

Following a fresh investigation, in 2010 Ligus was charged with murdering three more men found dead in Shropshire in 1994.

He was deemed unfit to plead, but a trial at Birmingham Crown Court in 2011 found the serial killer responsible for the murders of Trevor Bradley and Brian Coles.

Antique dealer Mr Bradley, 53, was discovered in a burnt-out car near Melverley, Shropshire, in April 1994.

He was killed when Ligus knocked him out and set his car on fire.

The body of 57-year-old Mr Coles was found six months later at his home in Higher Heath, near Whitchurch. He was beaten to death with an iron bar, the court was told.

Ligus was found not responsible for the death of 36-year-old Bernard Czyzewska, whose body was pulled from the River Severn, in Shrewsbury, in November 1994.

The serial killer, a former painter and decorator, was detained in a secure hospital following the jurors' ruling.

A judge told him he would be returned to prison to resume his original sentence if he was ever deemed fit to be freed from hospital.