A 62-year-old man who begged the judge at his trial to have him put him to death for the rape and murder of a young woman has been executed by lethal injection in Alabama.

Jack Trawick was executed late on Thursday after being convicted of the murder of a 21-year-old woman in October 1992, prison officials said on Friday.

Local media reported that he had confessed to the murders of three other young women. His lawyer had asked in vain that Trawick - who had been sentenced several times in the past - should not be paroled until he had followed a program for sex offenders.

All appeals to halt his execution were dropped, although his lawyers continued to insist that he was suffering from mental illness.

Trawick was the fifth person to be put to death by lethal injection this year in the state.

AFP