Death sentence for man who killed his five children and drove around with their bodies for days

South Carolina jury unanimously agrees on death sentence

Timothy Jones Jr has been sentenced to the death penalty after killing his five children and carrying their dead bodies in a car for days on end. (AP)

A man who killed his five children and drove around with their bodies for several days before dumping them in Alabama has been given the death penalty by a South Carolina jury.

The jury unanimously agreed on the death penalty on Thursday for 37-year-old Timothy Jones Jr in the slayings of his children, aged one to eight, in their home in August 2014.

Jones admitted he exercised six-year-old Nahtahn until he collapsed and died, then several hours later decided to kill the other four children.

He confessed to strangling eight-year-old Merah and seven-year-old Elias with his hands and using a belt to choke two-year-old Gabriel and one-year-old Abigail because his hands were too big.

Jones then drove around with the bodies for nine days before dumping them in five trash bags in Alabama.

Although he is heading to death row, South Carolina hasn’t executed an inmate since 2011.

If the jury had not voted unanimously for the death penalty, Jones would have been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The same Lexington County jury convicted Jones last week of five counts of murder.

Prosecutors said death was the only just choice because life in prison would be like sending Jones to his room to think about things.

Meanwhile, defence attorney Casey Secor asked jurors to punish Jones severely with life without parole, but show compassion for his family so they don’t endure any more death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report