Robert Hanssen: Convicted US spy found dead in Colorado prison

An FBI agent-turned-Russian mole who is notorious as one of the most damaging spies in US history has been found dead in prison.

Robert Hanssen was discovered at a maximum-security facility in Florence, Colorado, on Monday morning.

Hanssen, 79, received more than $1.4m in cash, diamonds, and money paid into Russian accounts. Three hundred agents worked on his case.

He was sentenced in 2002 to life in prison for espionage.

Hanssen lived in a modest four-bedroom house in suburban Virginia with his wife and six children prior to his arrest.

Because of his counterintelligence role, he had access to classified information and in 1985 he started his criminal activity, sending material to Russia and the former Soviet Union.