San Francisco  - Susan Atkins, a member of the notorious Charles Manson cult, who was convicted of eight murders in 1969, has died in prison from brain cancer.

Atkins, 61, was California's longest-serving female prisoner and her death came less than a month after she was denied parole.

Atkins confessed to killing actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of director Roman Polanski, and six others in the notorious killing spree and was found guilty together with Manson and three of his followers in 1971.

She died just before midnight Thursday at a medical facility in central California, according to prison authorities.

At her parole hearing her family pleaded for her to be released on compassionate grounds. But the families of her victims asked that she remain behind bars until her death and the parole board unanimously rejected her request citing the "atrocious and dispassionate nature" of her crimes. (dpa)