Paul Schaefer, a former Nazi corporal and founder of a cult-like community in Chile, has died in prison aged 88.

He was in jail serving a 20-year sentence for sexually abusing children at the Colonia Dignidad, some during Chile’s military dictatorship.

The former Baptist preacher established the colony in southern Chile in 1961, after fleeing Germany to escape separate child abuse charges.

He had close ties to Chile’s elite during Gen Augusto Pinochet’s rule.

Schaefer denied allowing Chile’s secret police to use the enclave as a centre for torturing left-wing dissidents in the 1970s and 1980s.