Fred West
Encyclopedia
Frederick Walter Stephen West (29 September 1941 – 1 January 1995), was a British serial killer
. Between 1967 and 1987, he alone, and later, he and his wife Rosemary
, tortured, raped and murdered at least 11 young women and girls, many at the couple's homes. The majority of the murders occurred between May 1973 and September 1979 at their home in Gloucester
. Rosemary West also murdered Fred's stepdaughter (his first wife's biological daughter) Charmaine, while he was serving a prison sentence for theft. During this time they resided at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester. The house was demolished in 1996 and was converted into a landscaped footpath connecting Cromwell Street to St. Michaels Square.
family of farm workers in Bickerton Cottage, Much Marcle, Herefordshire, to Walter Stephen West (5 July 1914 – 28 March 1992) and Daisy Hannah Hill (1922-6 February 1968). He was the second of their six children. West would later claim that his father had incest
uous relationships with his daughters. It has been suggested that incest was an accepted part of the household, and that his father taught him bestiality from an early age. West recalled, in police interviews, that his father had said on many occasions "Do what you want, just don’t get caught doing it". It is also alleged that his mother Daisy began sexually abusing
him from the age of 12.
At school, West showed an aptitude for woodwork and artwork, but did not excel academically. He left school at the age of 15 in December 1956; two years later, in November 1958, he suffered a fractured skull
and a broken arm and leg in a motorbike accident. The accident put him into an eight-day coma. His family reported that after the accident he became prone to sudden fits of rage. Two years later, he was unconscious for 24 hours after hitting his head in a fall from a fire escape.
At the age of 19, he was arrested for molesting a 13-year-old girl. He was convicted, but escaped a sentence of imprisonment. His mother sent him to live with her sister Violet in Much Marcle and the rest of the family effectively disowned him thereafter.
, Lanarkshire
. Her daughter, Charmaine Carol, was born on 22 February 1963. Costello and West claimed they had adopted Charmaine, whose father was from Pakistan. In July 1964 Costello bore West a daughter named Anne Marie. During this period in Coatbridge, West worked as an ice cream
van driver. On 4 November 1965, he ran over and killed a four-year-old boy with his van.
The family, along with Isa McNeill who looked after the couple's children and Costello's friend Anne McFall, moved into the Lakeside caravan park in Bishop's Cleeve
, Gloucestershire at the end of 1965 when West feared for his safety following the ice cream van incident. To escape from West's sadistic sexual demands, Costello and McNeill moved to Scotland in 1966 while McFall, who had become infatuated with West and the two children, remained. Costello continued to visit the children every few months. In August 1967 McFall, who was eight months pregnant with West's child, vanished. McFall was never reported missing and her remains were found in June 1994.
In September 1967, Costello returned to live with West, but left again the following year, putting the children in West's care.
It is believed that Rosemary killed Charmaine (Fred's stepdaughter from his first marriage) shortly before West's release in June 1971. According to Anne Marie, both sisters were subject to frequent beatings, but Charmaine infuriated Rosemary by her refusal to cry no matter how severe they got. Charmaine disappeared in mid June, with Rosemary explaining Costello had called and taken her back to Scotland
. Costello turned up in late August to collect Charmaine, and also disappeared.
On 29 January 1972, Fred and Rosemary West married in Gloucester
, and on 1 June of that year, Rosemary gave birth to their second daughter, Mae. Around this time West encouraged his wife into prostitution. Rosemary eventually had seven children, of whom three were mixed race. Needing a bigger house, the family moved to 25 Cromwell Street (51°51′42"N 2°14′36"W), now demolished, where West converted the upper floor to bedsit
s. "Rose's Room", the room Rosemary used for prostitution had peepholes so he could watch and a red light outside the door for warning the children not to enter when she was "busy". Like West, Rosemary came from a family where incest was common; Rosemary's father, Bill Letts, with Fred's approval, would often visit their home to have sex with Rosemary.
In October 1972 the Wests hired 17-year-old Caroline Roberts as the children's nanny. They had picked up the girl during the night time along a secluded country road and after she informed them that she wished to escape her stepfather, a week later she moved into 25 Cromwell Street to look after their three children at the time. Rosemary, who had begun prostitution in her bedroom at this time, explained to Roberts that she was a "masseuse" when Roberts had inquired about the men frequently visiting her. While there, according to Caroline, Fred had informed her that if ever she needed an abortion he was well equipped to do so. She became suspicious when Fred boasted that many of the women he had treated with an abortion were so overjoyed that they offer him sexual services as a reward. She rejected Fred and Rosemary's advances into their "sex-circle" and left a few weeks later. On 6 December 1972 the Wests picked her up again along the secluded road and apologized profusely for what had happened and invited her to their home to make amends with a "cup of tea". Roberts had believed they had been genuinely courteous in what they said in their apology to her and obliged, believing that they had simply mistaken what the job had entailed. Back at 25 Cromwell Street, after initially making her welcome with the promised cup of tea, soon afterwards Rose started kissing her, bound her heavily with bondage tape, and both raped her. According to Roberts, Fred had remarked that "her vagina was unusual" and that he "would have to change that". When she screamed, Rosemary smothered her with a pillow and she was bound even further around the neck. Fred threatened her that they would keep her locked up in the cellar and let Rosemary's black male visitors "use" her and that when they had finished they would bury her under the paving stones of Gloucester. Fred boasted that they had killed hundreds of young girls and the police would never find them. Quickly realizing that they would kill her, Caroline gave into them and let them sexually do whatever they wanted to her without a fight. Fred allowed Roberts to leave the next day only after she promised she would return as their nanny. Roberts reported the rape to police but withdrew the accusation when the case came to court. The Wests pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of indecent assault
and were fined £50.
In early 1973, the Wests took eight-year-old Anne Marie to the cellar, where they bound and gagged her before West raped her while Rosemary watched.
In 1979 Anne Marie became pregnant by West, but the pregnancy was terminated
as it was ectopic
. Unable to cope with her father any longer, she left home; West now began abusing Heather, who disappeared a few years later.
and the remaining children were placed in foster care
. The rape case against the Wests collapsed when the two main witnesses declined to testify at the court case on 7 June 1993. The police continued investigating the disappearance of their daughter Heather. After taking statements from social work
ers, and the children themselves, about a joke about "Heather being buried under the patio", they obtained a further search warrant
in February 1994, allowing them to excavate the garden in search of Heather. They started searching the house and excavating the garden on 24 February 1994.
After West's arrest the following day, the police uncovered human bones. He confessed, retracted and then re-confessed to the murder of his daughter, denying that Rosemary was involved. Rosemary was not arrested until April 1994, initially on sex offences but later charged with murder. Further bodies were found and, on 4 March 1994, West admitted that he had carried out nine more murders, including those of his first wife and Ann McFall. The remains of McFall and Costello were subsequently unearthed in fields near the village of Kempley
.
Fred and Rosemary West were brought before a magistrates' court
in Gloucester on 30 June 1994; he was charged with 11 murders and she with 10. Immediately afterwards, Fred West was re-arrested on suspicion of murdering Ann McFall, whose body had been found on 7 June 1994. On the evening of 3 July 1994, he was charged with her murder.
On 1 January 1995, Fred West hanged
himself while on remand
in his cell at Winson Green Prison
, Birmingham. His funeral was held in Coventry
on 29 March 1995. West was cremated
with only three people present.
The evidence against Rosemary was circumstantial; unlike her husband, she did not confess. She was tried in October 1995 at Winchester
Crown Court
, found guilty of all 10 murders and sentenced to life imprisonment
. The trial judge recommended that she should never be released and 18 months later the then serving Home Secretary
Jack Straw
agreed with this recommendation.
In October 1996, the Wests' house in Cromwell Street, which was next to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, along with the adjoining property (No. 23), was demolished and the site made into a pathway. Every brick was crushed and every timber was burned to discourage souvenir hunters.
Novelist Martin Amis
was a cousin of the Wests' victim Lucy Partington, who disappeared in 1973; he dedicated his novel 'The Information' (published in 1995) to her.
Their only known victim between 1980 and their arrest 14 years later was their daughter Heather (who died in 1987), compared to nine murders in the previous eight years committed by the pair as a couple. However, police believe the couple murdered more. There were no known murders in the years 1976–1977, 1980–1986 and 1988–1992. During questioning after being arrested, Fred West had confessed to murdering up to 30 people, but the police believed the pair may have killed only 13. As well as the 12 confirmed they believe West also killed 15-year-old Mary Bastholm in January 1968, but to date no body has been found. West's son, Stephen, has said he firmly believed the missing Gloucester teenager was an early victim of his father, as Fred West had reportedly boasted of committing Miss Bastholme's murder while on remand in prison during 1994.
Although no forensic evidence linked Fred West to the murder of Anne McFall, and he always denied killing her, in contrast to the other murders, the state of the body (missing finger and toe bones as was the case with the other bodies) and the dimensions of the grave site match aspects of West's modus operandi
.
Janet Leach, West's Appropriate adult
who also visited him in prison, says West told her he had been involved in at least 20 further murders, including children killed in a barn.
in Viz
, also featuring serial killer Harold Shipman
, which attracted criticism from the victims' families. The editor of Viz commented: "Yes, it is going a bit far and I don't need to defend it, but I'll make a half-hearted attempt. I'm sure Mel Brooks
didn't think the Nazis were funny, but a lot of his comedy was based around them. The cover of Viz gives you a pretty good idea of what the content is going to be like and people that are offended by it, don't buy it."
The surnames of the two families in the BBC comedy series Gavin and Stacey are West and Shipman. There is no suggestion that the characters are linked to the serial killers, but the co-incidence of the names is deliberate, and is mentioned in the wedding episode at the end of series 1.
The West murders are mentioned in the 2006 episode "The Final Act" of the ITV
television police drama Prime Suspect, to emphasise the public reaction to incomplete investigations.
A two-part drama, Appropriate Adult
, aired on ITV in September 2011. This tells the story of Janet Leach, the woman asked by police to sit in interviews with Fred West.
In one episode in the fourth season of Law and Order: SVU, West is mentioned because he collected the fingers of his victims to remind him of his "dominance", something he had in common with their suspect.
British musical act Kunt and the Gang
wrote a song entitled "Fred and Rose," making reference throughout, notably in the chorus, "Heaven knows / There's nothing that I wouldn't do. / We're like Fred and Rose. / I'd murder a lodger for you."
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. Between 1967 and 1987, he alone, and later, he and his wife Rosemary
Rosemary West
Rosemary Pauline "Rose" West is a British serial killer, now an inmate at HMP Low Newton, Brasside, Durham, after being convicted of 10 murders in 1995...
, tortured, raped and murdered at least 11 young women and girls, many at the couple's homes. The majority of the murders occurred between May 1973 and September 1979 at their home in Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
. Rosemary West also murdered Fred's stepdaughter (his first wife's biological daughter) Charmaine, while he was serving a prison sentence for theft. During this time they resided at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester. The house was demolished in 1996 and was converted into a landscaped footpath connecting Cromwell Street to St. Michaels Square.
Early life
Fred West was born into a poorPoverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
family of farm workers in Bickerton Cottage, Much Marcle, Herefordshire, to Walter Stephen West (5 July 1914 – 28 March 1992) and Daisy Hannah Hill (1922-6 February 1968). He was the second of their six children. West would later claim that his father had incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
uous relationships with his daughters. It has been suggested that incest was an accepted part of the household, and that his father taught him bestiality from an early age. West recalled, in police interviews, that his father had said on many occasions "Do what you want, just don’t get caught doing it". It is also alleged that his mother Daisy began sexually abusing
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
him from the age of 12.
At school, West showed an aptitude for woodwork and artwork, but did not excel academically. He left school at the age of 15 in December 1956; two years later, in November 1958, he suffered a fractured skull
Skull fracture
A skull fracture is a break in one or more of the bones in the skull usually occurring as a result of blunt force trauma. If the force of the impact is excessive the bone may fracture at or near the site of the impact...
and a broken arm and leg in a motorbike accident. The accident put him into an eight-day coma. His family reported that after the accident he became prone to sudden fits of rage. Two years later, he was unconscious for 24 hours after hitting his head in a fall from a fire escape.
At the age of 19, he was arrested for molesting a 13-year-old girl. He was convicted, but escaped a sentence of imprisonment. His mother sent him to live with her sister Violet in Much Marcle and the rest of the family effectively disowned him thereafter.
Marriage to Rena Costello
In September 1962, the 21-year-old West became re-acquainted with a former girlfriend, Catherine Costello, who was now better known as Rena from her time working as a prostitute. Costello was already pregnant by another man, and she and West married on 17 November before moving to CoatbridgeCoatbridge
Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era...
, Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...
. Her daughter, Charmaine Carol, was born on 22 February 1963. Costello and West claimed they had adopted Charmaine, whose father was from Pakistan. In July 1964 Costello bore West a daughter named Anne Marie. During this period in Coatbridge, West worked as an ice cream
Ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
van driver. On 4 November 1965, he ran over and killed a four-year-old boy with his van.
The family, along with Isa McNeill who looked after the couple's children and Costello's friend Anne McFall, moved into the Lakeside caravan park in Bishop's Cleeve
Bishop's Cleeve
Bishop's Cleeve is an urbanised village in the Borough of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England, near Cheltenham. The village lies at the foot of Cleeve Hill, the highest point in the Cotswolds.- History :...
, Gloucestershire at the end of 1965 when West feared for his safety following the ice cream van incident. To escape from West's sadistic sexual demands, Costello and McNeill moved to Scotland in 1966 while McFall, who had become infatuated with West and the two children, remained. Costello continued to visit the children every few months. In August 1967 McFall, who was eight months pregnant with West's child, vanished. McFall was never reported missing and her remains were found in June 1994.
In September 1967, Costello returned to live with West, but left again the following year, putting the children in West's care.
Marriage to Rosemary "Rose" Letts
While still married to Costello, 27-year-old West met his next wife, Rosemary Letts, on 29 November 1968, on her 15th birthday. On her 16th birthday she moved in with him and a few months later they moved from the caravan to a two-storey house in Midland Road, Gloucester. On 17 October 1970, Rosemary gave birth to their daughter, Heather Ann. Fred West was imprisoned for theft from 4 December 1970 until 24 June 1971.It is believed that Rosemary killed Charmaine (Fred's stepdaughter from his first marriage) shortly before West's release in June 1971. According to Anne Marie, both sisters were subject to frequent beatings, but Charmaine infuriated Rosemary by her refusal to cry no matter how severe they got. Charmaine disappeared in mid June, with Rosemary explaining Costello had called and taken her back to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Costello turned up in late August to collect Charmaine, and also disappeared.
On 29 January 1972, Fred and Rosemary West married in Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
, and on 1 June of that year, Rosemary gave birth to their second daughter, Mae. Around this time West encouraged his wife into prostitution. Rosemary eventually had seven children, of whom three were mixed race. Needing a bigger house, the family moved to 25 Cromwell Street (51°51′42"N 2°14′36"W), now demolished, where West converted the upper floor to bedsit
Bedsit
A bedsit, also known as a bed-sitting room, is a form of rented accommodation common in Great Britain and Ireland consisting of a single room and shared bathroom; they are part of a legal category of dwellings referred to as Houses in multiple occupation....
s. "Rose's Room", the room Rosemary used for prostitution had peepholes so he could watch and a red light outside the door for warning the children not to enter when she was "busy". Like West, Rosemary came from a family where incest was common; Rosemary's father, Bill Letts, with Fred's approval, would often visit their home to have sex with Rosemary.
In October 1972 the Wests hired 17-year-old Caroline Roberts as the children's nanny. They had picked up the girl during the night time along a secluded country road and after she informed them that she wished to escape her stepfather, a week later she moved into 25 Cromwell Street to look after their three children at the time. Rosemary, who had begun prostitution in her bedroom at this time, explained to Roberts that she was a "masseuse" when Roberts had inquired about the men frequently visiting her. While there, according to Caroline, Fred had informed her that if ever she needed an abortion he was well equipped to do so. She became suspicious when Fred boasted that many of the women he had treated with an abortion were so overjoyed that they offer him sexual services as a reward. She rejected Fred and Rosemary's advances into their "sex-circle" and left a few weeks later. On 6 December 1972 the Wests picked her up again along the secluded road and apologized profusely for what had happened and invited her to their home to make amends with a "cup of tea". Roberts had believed they had been genuinely courteous in what they said in their apology to her and obliged, believing that they had simply mistaken what the job had entailed. Back at 25 Cromwell Street, after initially making her welcome with the promised cup of tea, soon afterwards Rose started kissing her, bound her heavily with bondage tape, and both raped her. According to Roberts, Fred had remarked that "her vagina was unusual" and that he "would have to change that". When she screamed, Rosemary smothered her with a pillow and she was bound even further around the neck. Fred threatened her that they would keep her locked up in the cellar and let Rosemary's black male visitors "use" her and that when they had finished they would bury her under the paving stones of Gloucester. Fred boasted that they had killed hundreds of young girls and the police would never find them. Quickly realizing that they would kill her, Caroline gave into them and let them sexually do whatever they wanted to her without a fight. Fred allowed Roberts to leave the next day only after she promised she would return as their nanny. Roberts reported the rape to police but withdrew the accusation when the case came to court. The Wests pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of indecent assault
Indecent assault
Indecent assault is an offence of aggravated assault in many jurisdictions. It is characterised as a sex crime.Indecent assault was an offence in England and Wales under sections 14 and 15 the Sexual Offences Act 1956...
and were fined £50.
In early 1973, the Wests took eight-year-old Anne Marie to the cellar, where they bound and gagged her before West raped her while Rosemary watched.
In 1979 Anne Marie became pregnant by West, but the pregnancy was terminated
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
as it was ectopic
Ectopic pregnancy
An ectopic pregnancy, or eccysis , is a complication of pregnancy in which the embryo implants outside the uterine cavity. With rare exceptions, ectopic pregnancies are not viable. Furthermore, they are dangerous for the parent, since internal haemorrhage is a life threatening complication...
. Unable to cope with her father any longer, she left home; West now began abusing Heather, who disappeared a few years later.
Investigation, arrest and conviction
In May 1992, West filmed himself raping one of his other daughters, and twice again afterwards. She told friends at school what had happened. On 4 August one of the friends told her mother and she went to the police. On 6 August 1992, the police began an investigation, eventually leading to West being charged, with Rosemary as an accomplice, with rape. She was also charged with child crueltyChild abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
and the remaining children were placed in foster care
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
. The rape case against the Wests collapsed when the two main witnesses declined to testify at the court case on 7 June 1993. The police continued investigating the disappearance of their daughter Heather. After taking statements from social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
ers, and the children themselves, about a joke about "Heather being buried under the patio", they obtained a further search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
in February 1994, allowing them to excavate the garden in search of Heather. They started searching the house and excavating the garden on 24 February 1994.
After West's arrest the following day, the police uncovered human bones. He confessed, retracted and then re-confessed to the murder of his daughter, denying that Rosemary was involved. Rosemary was not arrested until April 1994, initially on sex offences but later charged with murder. Further bodies were found and, on 4 March 1994, West admitted that he had carried out nine more murders, including those of his first wife and Ann McFall. The remains of McFall and Costello were subsequently unearthed in fields near the village of Kempley
Kempley
Kempley is a village in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, England, close to the border with Herefordshire.The small village has two notable churches, one dedicated to St Mary and another to St Edward the Confessor.St...
.
Fred and Rosemary West were brought before a magistrates' court
Magistrates' Court
A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
in Gloucester on 30 June 1994; he was charged with 11 murders and she with 10. Immediately afterwards, Fred West was re-arrested on suspicion of murdering Ann McFall, whose body had been found on 7 June 1994. On the evening of 3 July 1994, he was charged with her murder.
On 1 January 1995, Fred West hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
himself while on remand
Detention of suspects
The detention of suspects is the process of keeping a person who has been arrested in a police-cell, remand prison or other detention centre before trial or sentencing. One criticism of pretrial detention is that eventual acquittal can be a somewhat hollow victory, in that there is no way to...
in his cell at Winson Green Prison
Birmingham (HM Prison)
HM Prison Birmingham is a Category B/C men's prison, located in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, England. The prison was formally operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service...
, Birmingham. His funeral was held in Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
on 29 March 1995. West was cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
with only three people present.
The evidence against Rosemary was circumstantial; unlike her husband, she did not confess. She was tried in October 1995 at Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
, found guilty of all 10 murders and sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
. The trial judge recommended that she should never be released and 18 months later the then serving Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
Jack Straw
Jack Straw
Jack Straw , British politician.Jack Straw may also refer to:* Jack Straw , English* "Jack Straw" , 1971 song by the Grateful Dead* Jack Straw by W...
agreed with this recommendation.
In October 1996, the Wests' house in Cromwell Street, which was next to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, along with the adjoining property (No. 23), was demolished and the site made into a pathway. Every brick was crushed and every timber was burned to discourage souvenir hunters.
Novelist Martin Amis
Martin Amis
Martin Louis Amis is a British novelist, the author of many novels including Money and London Fields . He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, but will step down at the end of the 2010/11 academic year...
was a cousin of the Wests' victim Lucy Partington, who disappeared in 1973; he dedicated his novel 'The Information' (published in 1995) to her.
The victims
- Charmaine West (born 22 February 1963): Killed in June 1971 by Rose West while Fred was in prison, the motive said to be Rose's wish to break links with Charmaine's mother, "Rena".
- Catherine Bernadette "Rena" West (born 14 April 1944): Killed August 1971. Rena had called to take Charmaine away with her and it is believed Fred West killed her to avoid an investigation into Charmaine’s whereabouts.
- Lynda Gough (born 1 May 1953): Killed April 1973. A lodger at 25 Cromwell St, Gough and Rosemary would share lovers. Following her disappearance Gough’s mother called to visit and Rosemary, wearing Gough’s clothes, told her she had moved to find work in Weston-super-MareWeston-super-MareWeston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
. - Carol "Caz" Ann Cooper (born 10 April 1958): Killed November 1973. Cooper was living in a children’s home in WorcesterWorcesterThe City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
when she disappeared while walking home from the cinema. - Lucy Katherine Partington (born 4 March 1952): Killed December 1973. Spent Christmas with her family in CheltenhamCheltenhamCheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
and visited a friend, and disappeared after leaving to catch a bus home. There is strong evidence that she had been kept alive for at least several days. A week after she disappeared, Fred went to a hospital in the early hours of 3 January 1974 to get a serious laceration stitched. A knife matching the cut was found with Partington's body and police surmise he sustained the injury while dismembering the body. Partington, a university student, was the cousin of novelist Martin AmisMartin AmisMartin Louis Amis is a British novelist, the author of many novels including Money and London Fields . He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, but will step down at the end of the 2010/11 academic year...
. - Therese Siegenthaler (born 27 November 1952): Killed in April 1974. A student in South LondonSouth LondonSouth London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
who left to hitch-hike to Ireland and disappeared. - Shirley Hubbard (born 26 June 1959): Killed November 1974. Left a work experience course in Droitwich to return home but did not arrive. When her remains were found her head was completely covered in tape with only a three-inch rubber tube inserted to allow her to breathe.
- Juanita "Nita" Marion Mott (born 1 March 1957): Killed April 1975. A former lodger at 25 Cromwell St, Mott was living with a friend of her mother's in NewentNewentNewent is a small market town about 8 miles north west of Gloucester City, on the northern edge of the Forest of Dean, and lying within the Forest of Dean Local Authority District. Its population at the 2001 census was 5,073...
when she disappeared. - Shirley Anne Robinson (born 8 October 1959): Killed May 1978. A lodger at 25 Cromwell St, Robinson was a prostitute for the Wests. Disappeared after becoming pregnant with Fred’s child.
- Alison Chambers (born 8 September 1962): Killed August 1979. Last known sexually-motivated killing.
- Heather Ann West (born 17 October 1970) Killed June 1987. Heather became the focus of Fred’s attentions after Anne Marie left home. She complained to friends about the abuse, and when this got back to Fred & Rose, they decided to eliminate her as Heather now risked exposing them. Also, Heather was probably sired not by Fred, but by Rose's abusive father, Bill Letts. Fred West claimed he had not meant to kill her but she had been sneering at him and he "had to take the smirk off her face". Rosemary told an enquiring neighbour the following day that she and Heather had had a "hell of a row" so it is believed Rosemary may have initiated her death. The Wests told their children Heather had left for a job in DevonDevonDevon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, but later changed the story to her having run off with a lesbian lover when she failed to contact or visit them. Later still Fred would threaten the children that they would "end up under the patio like Heather" if they misbehaved. Heather's body was found under the patio that Fred had built over the fishpond dug by his son Stephen. Heather's murder indirectly led to the West's arrests almost seven years later.
Their only known victim between 1980 and their arrest 14 years later was their daughter Heather (who died in 1987), compared to nine murders in the previous eight years committed by the pair as a couple. However, police believe the couple murdered more. There were no known murders in the years 1976–1977, 1980–1986 and 1988–1992. During questioning after being arrested, Fred West had confessed to murdering up to 30 people, but the police believed the pair may have killed only 13. As well as the 12 confirmed they believe West also killed 15-year-old Mary Bastholm in January 1968, but to date no body has been found. West's son, Stephen, has said he firmly believed the missing Gloucester teenager was an early victim of his father, as Fred West had reportedly boasted of committing Miss Bastholme's murder while on remand in prison during 1994.
Although no forensic evidence linked Fred West to the murder of Anne McFall, and he always denied killing her, in contrast to the other murders, the state of the body (missing finger and toe bones as was the case with the other bodies) and the dimensions of the grave site match aspects of West's modus operandi
Modus operandi
Modus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode of operation". The term is used to describe someone's habits or manner of working, their method of operating or functioning...
.
Janet Leach, West's Appropriate adult
Appropriate adult
Appropriate adult is a defined term in the United Kingdom legal system for a parent or guardian or social worker who must be present if a young person or vulnerable adult is to be searched or questioned in police custody...
who also visited him in prison, says West told her he had been involved in at least 20 further murders, including children killed in a barn.
Cultural impact
Harold and Fred (They Make Ladies Dead) was a 2001 comic stripComic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
in Viz
Viz (comic)
Viz is a popular British comic magazine which has been running since 1979.The comic's style parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with incongruous language, crude toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and either sexual or violent storylines...
, also featuring serial killer Harold Shipman
Harold Shipman
Harold Fredrick Shipman was an English doctor and one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history with 218 murders being positively ascribed to him....
, which attracted criticism from the victims' families. The editor of Viz commented: "Yes, it is going a bit far and I don't need to defend it, but I'll make a half-hearted attempt. I'm sure Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
didn't think the Nazis were funny, but a lot of his comedy was based around them. The cover of Viz gives you a pretty good idea of what the content is going to be like and people that are offended by it, don't buy it."
The surnames of the two families in the BBC comedy series Gavin and Stacey are West and Shipman. There is no suggestion that the characters are linked to the serial killers, but the co-incidence of the names is deliberate, and is mentioned in the wedding episode at the end of series 1.
The West murders are mentioned in the 2006 episode "The Final Act" of the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
television police drama Prime Suspect, to emphasise the public reaction to incomplete investigations.
A two-part drama, Appropriate Adult
Appropriate Adult
Appropriate Adult is a 2011 British television film, first shown on ITV in two 90-minute parts on 4 and 11 September 2011. It starred Dominic West, Emily Watson and Monica Dolan...
, aired on ITV in September 2011. This tells the story of Janet Leach, the woman asked by police to sit in interviews with Fred West.
In one episode in the fourth season of Law and Order: SVU, West is mentioned because he collected the fingers of his victims to remind him of his "dominance", something he had in common with their suspect.
British musical act Kunt and the Gang
Kunt and the Gang
Kunt and the Gang are a musical comedy act based in Basildon, Essex, following in the tradition of 80s Basildon-based electronic pop acts Depeche Mode and Yazoo....
wrote a song entitled "Fred and Rose," making reference throughout, notably in the chorus, "Heaven knows / There's nothing that I wouldn't do. / We're like Fred and Rose. / I'd murder a lodger for you."
External links
- THE WEST MURDERS: DMP (Transcripts of interviews of Fred West & other related people)
- MEDIA INFORMATION PACK (detailed report by police)
- A Horror Story by Theodore Dalrymple
- Documentary: Fred and Rose West -The House of Horrors
- Article on West in the New Criminologist
- TRUE TALES of Liberty Denied