Convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester died on Tuesday, according to the Department of Correctional Services spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo.

He was alone in a cell that caught alight, Nxumalo said.

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Officials at the correctional facility found Bester's body at about 03:35 on Tuesday, Nxumalo added. "He was in a single cell. The investigation into this matter has been initiated as it is important to establish the circumstances leading to the death of an inmate. The cell was on fire."

The department will also investigate the cause of the fire.

In 2012, Bester was jailed for life for the murder of Johannesburg model and car salesperson Nomfundo Tyhulu, after the court found that he stabbed the 23-year-old woman in her chest at a bed and breakfast accommodation facility in Cape Town in September 2011, while they were on holiday together.

He was sentenced to 50 years in prison for raping and robbing two other models in October 2011.

He was dubbed the "Facebook rapist" because he used the social media platform to lure women with claims that international modelling scouts were interested in them.

Armed with a knife, he then raped and robbed them.

News24