Convicted child sex offender Peter Ellis has died 

His lawyer, Rob Harrison confirmed Ellis 'slipped away peacefully today' surrounded by his family and friends.

Ellis, 61, was jailed for seven years in 1991 after being found guilty of sexually abusing children at the Christchurch Civic Creche.

Allegations from at least seven young children claim Ellis buried them alive, made them dance naked, and placed them in an oven.

Ellis has always maintained his innocence.

In July, he filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

In an exclusive interview with Newstalk ZB last month, Ellis told Mike Hosking he was "feeling quite excited" about the impending hearing, but hoped to live to see it happen.

"Somebody said to me 'it looks like the crèche case is pulling into the station' and I said 'well I hope my train isn't going out first'.

"It's taken a long time, but I am very optimistic," he said.

• Peter Ellis hopes to clear his name, and live to see the results

Ellis has twice appealed to the Court of Appeal, the second time after a referral by the Governor-General.

The first appeal quashed three of his convictions, but the second appeal against the remaining 13 convictions was dismissed in 1999.

After the second Court of Appeal decision there was a Ministerial Inquiry in 2001 by Sir Thomas Eichelbaum, which concluded there was no risk of a miscarriage of justice.

There have also been unsuccessful petitions to Parliament for a Royal Commission in 2003, 2008 and 2014.