French serial killer Charles Sobhraj - whose murders inspired BBC drama The Serpent - was freed from prison in Nepal today.
It comes after he served most of his sentence for the murders of American and Canadian backpackers - slayings that were remembered in a BBC crime drama watched by more than 31 million Brits.
Sobhraj was driven out of Central Jail in Kathmandu today escorted by a heavily guarded police convoy to the Department of Immigration, where he will wait for his travel documents to be prepared.
The country's Supreme Court had ordered that Sobhraj, who was sentenced to life in prison in Nepal, be released because of poor health, good behavior and having already served most of his sentence. Life sentences in Nepal are 20 years.
The order also said he had to leave the country within 15 days.
Sobhraj's attorney Gopal Siwakoti Chitan told reporters that the request for the travel documents must be made by the immigration department to the French embassy in Nepal, which could take some time. Offices are closed over the weekend for the Christmas holiday.
The court document said he had already served more than 75% of his sentence, making him eligible for release, and he has heart disease.
The Frenchman has in the past admitted killing several Western tourists and he is believed to have killed at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong during the 1970s.
However, his 2004 conviction in Nepal was the first time he was found guilty in court.
Sobhraj was held for two decades in New Delhi's maximum-security Tihar prison on suspicion of theft but was deported without charge to France in 1997.
He resurfaced in September 2003 in Kathmandu.
His nickname, The Serpent, stems from his reputation as a disguise and escape artist.
His slayings were morbidly memorialised in a TV series broadcast on BBC starring Franco-Algerian actor Tahar Rahim as the monster.
More than 31 million Brits watched the gripping crime drama, which stars Jenna Coleman as his glamorous French-Canadian lover, Marie-Andree Leclerc.
Now a source has said that he will try to cash-in on his notoriety and sign lucrative contracts to tell his story.
An insider said: “Sobhraj has been fighting for years to be released and has even claimed he’s innocent.
“But now he’s going to be freed, he thinks that he’s going to earn a big pay-out for telling his story.”
Sobhraj was handed a life sentence for the double murder of American backpacker Connie Jo Boronzich, 29, and Canadian tourist Laurent Carrière, 26.
But he has been linked with as many as two dozen murders across Nepal, India, Malaysia and Thailand in a killing spree that earned him The Serpent moniker for slithering away from justice.
Despite serving nearly 20 years in jail, Sobhraj has claimed he wants to broker a lucrative film deal with Virgin tycoon Richard Branson to sell his story.
