Double murderer David Oakes has died in hospital.

Oakes, 51, killed ex-partner Christine Chambers, 38, and their daughter Shania, two, in Bartram Avenue, Braintree, in June 2011.

He was given a life sentence last year and had been imprisoned at HMP Frankland, in County Durham.

Oakes, of Steeple, died in hospital at 3.19am on Monday.

He is presumed to have died of natural causes, and is believed to have been suffering from cancer.

Oakes had denied two counts of murder but was found guilty after nine hours of jury deliberations at his trial in May last year.

Mr Justice Fulford ordered Oakes to serve a whole life sentence, making him one of a limited group of inmates who would never be released from prison.

Describing Oakes, he said: "A bullying and controlling man, who had frequently inflicted violence on Miss Chambers during the six years of their relationship, he killed his ex-partner and their young daughter simply because he knew she could not bear to be with him and wished to start a new life."

The trial heard Oakes forced Ms Chambers to cut off her own hair, after arriving at the house with the shotgun, a drill and an axe.

Oakes did not appear in court to be sentenced, after prison guards raised concerns he would harm himself.

In November, the Court of Appeal refused to quash the whole-life order imposed on the killer.

He was one of several inmates who argued such orders were incompatible with the European Convention of Human Rights.

Judges rejected that argument, saying: "Each of these appellants is dangerous, and on the available evidence, likely to remain dangerous for the indefinite future."

A Prison Service spokesman said: "As with all deaths in custody, the Independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation."