CHICAGO, Illinois (AFP, AP) - Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole on Thursday for kidnapping three women and holding them captive for a decade in his Ohio home.

Judge Michael Russo imposed the hefty sentence for an aggravated murder charge laid after Castro forcibly terminated the pregnancies of one of his captives. He also imposed stiff penalties for hundreds of others charges including rape and kidnapping.

Fifty-three-year-old Ariel Castro had pleaded guilty to 937 counts including aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape and assault.

A plea deal struck last week spared him from a possible death sentence for beating and starving a pregnant victim until she miscarried.

The women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004 when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old.

They escaped May 6 when one of them, Ms Amanda Berry, broke out part of the door to Castro's house and yelled to neighbours for help.