‘Serpent’ serial killer Charles Sobhraj freed from Nepalese prison

French national suspected of murdering western backpackers on the hippie trail in 1970s and 80s

Charles Sobhraj, the French serial killer known as the serpent" who targeted western backpackers on the hippie trail in the 1970s, has walked free from a jail in Nepal after he was given early release.

Sobhraj, 78, had been serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 2004 for the murder of an American tourist, Connie Jo Bronzich, in 1975. In 2014, Sobhraj was also convicted of killing her Canadian companion, Laurent Carriere.