Texas executes plane hangar killer Lester Bower

Bowers was executed by lethal injection

Texas has executed a 67-year-old man who was convicted of killing four men in 1983 after the US Supreme Court denied him a final appeal.

Lester Bower Jr is the oldest man executed in Texas since the state resumed its use of capital punishment in 1982.

Prosecutors said he shot dead four men in an aeroplane hangar in Sherman, a ranching town north of Dallas.

Bower had maintained his innocence throughout his incarceration.

His last words were: "Much has been said about this case. Much has been written about this case. Not all of it has been the truth. But the time for discerning truth is over and it's time to move on."

Bower is the eighth man put to death by lethal injection in Texas this year.

Bower was a chemical salesman with no criminal record at the time of the murders. Police said Bower went to Sherman to purchase a plane but instead stole the plane and killed the men in the hangar.

Building contractor and B&B Ranch owner Bob Tate, Grayson County Sheriff's Deputy Philip Good, interior designer Jerry Brown and former Sherman police officer Ronald Mayes were found dead on 8 October 1983.

Bower initially lied to investigators about being at the hangar and police found parts of a plane owned by Mr Brown at his home.

"I do have remorse," Bower told the Associated Press news agency in last month. "I'm remorseful for putting my family and my wife and my friends through this."