House of Horrors: Fred and Rosemary West
Between the years of 1967 and 1987, a vicious couple took the lives of at least 12 young women in some of the most horrible ways. At least 8 of these murders involved West’s sexual gratification including torture, mutilation, bondage, and rape. Most of the victims were teenagers between the ages of 15–18, while the oldest was 27 and the youngest was 8. This is one of the United Kingdom’s most prolific cases. Here is everything you need to know about the sickening duo.
FRED CAME FROM A VERY TROUBLED BACKGROUND
Fred was born on September 29th, 1941, at Bickerton Cottage, Much Marcle, Herefordshire. He was the first surviving child to Daisy Hill and Walter West. They were a poor family of farm workers but a very close-knit family. However, his father was seen as a disciplinarian and his mother was very over protective. Being the first of their surviving children, Fred was a complete mommy’s boy and was favored by Daisy. All six children had assigned chores at a young age, and were all given seasonal work to do. The three boys hunted rabbits and harvested wheat, while the three girls picked strawberries and hops. Due to this, Fred was instilled with a very strong work ethic at a young age, and also had a life-long habit of petty theft.
Fred dropped out of high school at the age of 15 and remained barely literate throughout the rest of his life. However, he did have a love for woodwork and art, and began working as a laborer at Moorcourt Farm. Fred alleged that his mother introduced him to sex when he was 12 years old, and claimed to have believed incest was normal as his father had an incestious relationship with all of his sisters. However, his brother Dough said this wasn’t true. Fred also began experimenting with bestiality in his teenage years.
By 1957, Fred began spending a lot of time at a Youth Club, where he started to make aggressive advances towards women and young girls. He objectified women on a daily basis, and would fondle them without their permission, as he believed that women were sources of pleasure that he could use whenever he wanted. When women did accept his advances, they often said that the sex was unsatisfying and that he was very selfish in bed, as he only cared about his own pleasure.
In June of 1961, Fred was accused by his 13 year old sister Kitty of raping her on several occasions, and that he impregnated her. Fred was arrested and even admitted to sexually molesting his young sister, and even admitted to doing this to several other young girls as well. When he was asked why he’d been doing it, he replied with: “Doesn’t everybody do it?” His trial was on the 9th of November, but even though his mother was disgusted by what he’d done, she was completely ready to testify in his defense. However, right before she could do that, Kitty changed her mind and chose not to testify, and Fred walked free. Most of Fred’s family Disowned him, and his mother banished him from her home, and he went to live with his aunt. By mid 1962, he made up with his parents, but still had a very strained relationship with the rest of his family.
FRED’S FIRST MARRIAGE AND THE ESCALATING VIOLENCE
Fred married a 21 year old woman named Catherine “Rena” Bernadette Costello just two months after they met. She was already pregnant by an Asian bus driver during the time they met, and Fred agreed to raise the child as if it were his. They came up with a plan to tell people that she had actually suffered a miscarriage and ended up adopting the child as a reason to explain her asian descent. They lived in his aunt’s home at first, but soon moved into their own place and he became an ice cream vendor. In March of 1963, baby Charmaine was born. In 1964, the couple had another baby girl together, Anna Marie.
Fred started to abuse not only his wife Rena, but their two children as well. Neighbors and the nanny claimed that Rena was a good person and considerate mother who was struggling to raise their children, and that Fred treated the children harshly. He forced the children to remain in the bottom bunk of a bunk bed, which had bars fitted to the space between the bunks, caging them inside like they were animals. He only allowed the girls out when he was at work. The nanny, McNiell, had a friend named Anne McFall who was 16. She was mourning the recent death of her boyfriend, and was spending a lot of time at the West’s residence, and soon began to feel an attraction towards Fred.
Fred admitted to having multiple affairs during his marriage, and fathered at least one illegitimate child. When Rena found out about this, she began having her own affair with a man named John McLachlan, who was aware of the physical abuse he forced his wife and children to endure, and would often beat him every single time he beat them. McLachlan stated, “he couldn’t tackle a man, but wasn’t slow in attacking women.” By 1966, Fred started portraying dominance and control over his wife, their nanny McNeill, and her friend McFall. He was prone to violent mood swings, but most of his violence was directed towards Rena and McNeill. It was also reported that Fred had started to sexually abuse Charmaine, and suggested that Rena start prostituting herself to gain more of an income.
In an attempt to escape from Fred’s domestic abuse and sadistic sexual tendencies, she called up her lover McLachlan and asked him to help save her and her daughters. The plan consisted of secretly driving to her home and discreetly taking her and her children back to Scotland. Both McNeil and McFall knew of these plans, and they believe McFall spilled the beans to Fred as he showed up at the exact time that the plan was supposed to be carried out. McFall also declared that she had feelings for Fred and would be staying behind with him. An altercation started between Fred and McLachlan, and Fred was hit multiple times while holding onto both of the children, and the police were called. In the end, the children were allowed to stay with Fred, and Rena was arrested and given three years probation. Rena alternated between living with Fred and the children, and returning to her original home in Glasgow. Letters were also sent between McFall and McNeill and her family, stating that a relationship with Fred would most likely offer her a better life than she ever had in Scotland, and tried to persuade Fred to divorce his wife and marry her instead.
ROSEMARY WEST ALSO HAD A TROUBLED BACKGROUND
Rosemary West, who was born Rosemary Letts to William Letts and Gwendoline Fuller. She was the 5th of 7 children and was born into a poor family. Rose’s mother suffered greatly from depression and was given electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), both during and soon after her pregnancy. It’s speculated that this treatment could’ve caused prenatal developmental injuries to Rose. She grew up as a precocious and very moody teenager, and did poorly in school. After her parents separated, she initially lived with her mother for 6 months, and then moved in with her father permanently. Her father suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, and was prone to violence and even sexually abused Rose and her oldest sister, Patricia.
When Rose hit puberty she became highly fascinated with her changing body, and would purposely parade around the house naked, even in front of her younger brother Graham, who was 9 at the time. When she was 13 she would sneak into Graham’s bed at night and molest him on multiple occasions, and her other youngest brother, Gordon.
FRED AND ROSEMARY UNITED
The two met when Rose was 15 and Fred was 27. She was initially very repulsed by Fred and had refused to go out with him. But as Fred continued to pursue her and display romantic gestures, she decided to accept his offer. After a few dates, the two started up a relationship. She started visiting his home often, and spent a lot of time with his daughter and step-daughter, who she treated with care and affection originally. She eventually became the daughters nanny, and quit her job to care for the girls, as long as Fred gave her extra money to send to her parents to prove that she was still working.
A few months into dating, Rose decided to introduce Fred to her parents, and to say that they were outraged is an understatement. They were disgusted with their teenage daughter dating an older man. Her mother stated that he was a pathological liar, and didn’t like his boastful and arrogant behavior, and her father threatened to call social services if he didn’t stop seeing his daughter. Her parents forbade her from contacting or seeing Fred, but she defied their orders and did it anyway. She was then placed in a home for troubled young girls in August of 1969, and was only allowed out under controlled circumstances. When she was allowed out to visit her parents on the weekends, she always made sure to take the time out to also see Fred as well.
On her 16th birthday, Rose was allowed to move out of the home for troubled girls and move back in with her parents. Fred was in jail and serving a 30 day sentence for petty theft and not paying fines. As soon as Fred was released, Rose went to live with him, and her father made one last attempt to keep Fred away from his daughter. In February of 1970, Rose was examined by a police surgeon and confirmed that she was pregnant. She was then placed back into the home of troubled young girls, but was released on March 6th, under the understanding that she would terminate her pregnancy and return back home. However, she didn’t terminate the pregnancy and went back to live with Fred. This resulted in her father banning her from ever coming into his home again.
On October 17th, 1970, Rose gave birth to their first child, a daughter who they named Heather Ann. It’s speculated that Heather might’ve been fathered by Rose’s own father. I’m not sure why they couldn’t just do a DNA test to prove this theory or not.
Fred was thrown into prison two months later for car theft, so Rose looked after the three children by herself, at the age of 17. She forced Charmaine and Anna Marie to call her mother. Anna reported that she and her sister Charmaine were constantly subjected to criticism, beatings, and other forms of harsh punishment. Anna would always show emotion and try to obey everything Rose did to her, while Charmaine was always more rebellious, showed no emotion, and antagonized Rose by saying that her “real mommy” wouldn’t hurt them, curse at them, and that her “real mommy” will come save them soon. A childhood friend of Charmaine’s later reported that she once came over to see her friend, and when she walked in, she saw Charmaine standing on a chair, completely naked, gagged, and with her hands bound behind her back, with Rose standing next to her with a big wooden spoon in her hand. Charmaine stood there with no emotion, and seemed very calm and unconcerned, while Anna was standing next to the door, expressionless.
THE MURDER OF ANNE MCFALL, CHARMAINE WEST, AND RENA WEST
In July of 1967, 18 year old Anne McFall was eight months pregnant with Fred’s child. She vanished and was never reported missing, but her remains which have been dismembered were found buried at the edge of a cornfield in June of 1994. Her limbs were carefully separated at the joints of the bones, and many of the small bones were missing from her hands and feet, assuming they were kept as trophies. It’s also speculated that the unborn baby was also removed from the womb. Fred initially denied killing McFall, but confided to one visitor following his arrest that he had stabbed her to death during an argument. This explanation is inconsistent with the fact that her wrists were found with sections of dressing gown cord wrapped around them, suggesting she had been restrained prior to her murder.
Rose is believed to have killed Charmaine shortly before Fred was released from prison on June 24h, 1971, and a forensic odontologist confirmed that Charmaine did in fact die while Fred was still in prison. In her later testimony at Rose’s trial, Shirley stated she and her family had lived in the upper flat of Midland Road in 1971 and that her two daughters had been playmates of Charmaine and Anna Marie. She stated that after her family had vacated the upper flat of Midland Road in April 1971, on one day in June, she had brought Tracey to visit Charmaine, only for Tracey to be told by Rose: “She’s gone to live with her mother, and bloody good riddance!” Tracey was Charmaine’s friend who had witnessed her standing naked on the chair while being beaten by Rose. Rose explained Charmaine’s disappearance to others who asked about her whereabouts by claiming that Rena had taken her to live with her. She also informed staff at Charmaine’s primary school that the child had moved with her mother. When Fred was released from prison on June 24th, he handled Anna Marie’s concerns for her sister by claiming her mother picked her up and returned to Scotland. When she asked why her mother wouldn’t also bring her back to Scotland, he replied with: “She wouldn’t want you, love. You’re the wrong color.”
Charmaine’s body was stored in the coal cellar of Midland Road at first, until Fred was released from prison. He then buried her naked body in the yard close to the back door of their home, and remained adamant that he never dismembered her body. An autopsy suggested the body was severed at the hip, and this damage may have been caused by building work Fred conducted on the property in 1976. Several bones, particularly patellae, finger, wrist, toe and ankle bones were missing from her remains, leading to the speculation that the missing parts were kept as trophies.
Rena had sporadic contact with her children each time she and Fred separated. She is also known to have visited his home in order to get information about her children's whereabouts and welfare in August of 1971. Fred’s sister-in-law, Christine, later stated that Rena suffered with depression and was extremely anxious about the welfare of her children. Being provided with Fred’s Midland Road address, Rena left to confront him, likely to discuss or demand getting sole custody of her daughters. That was the last time Rena was ever seen alive again. She is believed to have been strangled to death, possibly in the back seat of Fred’s car, and likely while being intoxicated. When her body was discovered, a short length of metal tubing was found with her remains, leaving a possibility that she had been restrained and subjected to a sexaul assault prior to her murder. Rena’s body was extensively dismembered, placed into plastic bags, and buried close to a cluster of trees known as Yewtree Coppice at Letterbox Field.
PROSTITUTION AND INCREASING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Soon after Rose gave birth, she was encouraged by Fred to start taking up prostitution to gain more money for the household. She operated in a room upstairs in there home, and additional to the prostitution, she would also have casual sex with both men and women who rented rooms in their household, or people that Fred would meet during work. She would go around telling people that no man or woman could ever satisfy her, and when engaging in sex with women, Rose would steadily increase the level of brutality to which she subjected her partner with. Acts such as partially suffocating them, or inserting large dildosinto into their bodies. If the woman resisted or stated any pain or fear, this would excite Rose, who would typically ask: “Aren’t you woman enough to take it?”
To many of these women, it became apparent Rose and her husband, who often participated in threesomes with her and her lovers, took a particular pleasure from seeking to take women beyond their sexual limits, typically via sessions involving bondage as they openly admitted to taking a particular pleasure from any form of sex involving a strong measure of dominance, pain and violence. They collected a large amount of bondage and restraining devices, magazines and images, later expanding this collection to include videos depicting bestiality, and graphic child pornography.
The room Rose used for prostitution was known as “Rose’s Room”, and had several hidden peepholes which allowed Fred to watch her sleep with her clients. He also installed a baby monitor in the room, allowing him to listen from other areas in the home. The room included a private bar, and a red light outside the door warned when Rose was not to be disturbed. She carried the only key to this room around her neck, and Fred installed a separate doorbell to the home which Rose’s clients were told to ring whenever they visited. By 1977, Rose’s father had come to accept his daughter’s marriage, and obtained a grudging respect for Fred. When her father learned about Rose being involved in sex work, he would also visit to have sex with his daughter. By 1983, she had given birth to eight children, at least three of whom were fathered by clients. Fred willingly accepted these children as his own, and falsely informed them the reason their skin was darker than that of their siblings was because his great grandmother was a black woman.
When each of their children reached seven years old, they were given multiple daily chores to perform in the home. They weren’t allowed to socialize outside the household perimeters unless either of their parents were present, and had to follow strict rules given by their parents, with severe punishment, which was nearly always physical, being the punishment for not following the household rules. The children feared the wrath from their parents, mostly being inflicted by Rose, and only seldomly by Fred. The violence was often irrational, indiscreet or just inflicted for Rose’s own sick pleasure. She always made sure to not mark the children’s faces or hands in her beatings. Heather, and subsequently her younger brother Stephen, ran away from home, both returned to Cromwell Street after several weeks of alternately sleeping rough or staying with friends, and both were beaten when they returned home.
Between 1972 and 1992, the children were admitted to the hospital 31 times, and the injuries were explained as accidents and never reported to social services. On one occasion, as Stephen was mopping the kitchen floor with a cloth, Rose accidentally stepped into the bowl of water he had been using. In response, Rose hit the boy over the head with the bowl, then repeatedly kicked him in the head and chest. On another occasion, Rose became angry about a missing kitchen utensil, so she grabbed a knife she had been using to cut a piece of meat, and repeatedly inflicted light slash marks to Mae’s chest until her rib cage was covered with wounds.
FRED AND ROSE SEXUALLY ABUSED THEIR OWN DAUGHTERS
It started in September of 1972, when the couple brought 8 year old Anna Marie to their cellar, where she was ordered to undress, with Rose tearing her dress from her body, all while commenting on Anna’s nervousness. She was then stripped naked, bound to a mattress and gagged, following with the sexual assault by Fred, her own father. After the rape, Rose followed her to the bathroom, laughing as she watched Anna Marie struggle to walk. She then handed her a sanitary towel, explaining to the child: “I’m sorry. Everybody does it to every girl. It’s a father’s job. Don’t worry, and don’t say anything to anybody. To make sure these sexual assaults would continue, Fred and Rose then threatened her with severe punishments if they ever found out that she had told anyone. Rose occasionally sexually abused Anna by herself, and later took extreme pleasure in degrading her with acts like binding her to various items of furniture before encouraging Fred to rape her, and forcing her to do chores while wearing sexual devices and mini skirts. From the age of 13, Fred and Rose forced Anna to prostitute herself within the household, with her clients being wrongfully told that she was 16. Rose was always present in the room when these acts occurred, to make sure she didn’t reveal her real age.
Heather and Mae became the focus of Fred’s sexual attention after Anna ran away from home in 1979, after enduring a very severe beating from Rose to her stomach just days after being discharged from hospital for treatment of an ectopic pregnancy. The frequency of the abuse endured by Heather and Mae increased when both girls reached puberty. He even referred to his intentions to impregnate both his daughters, and would sometimes force all his children to watch pornography with him. As Heather, Mae and their younger brother Stephen were very close in age, they came up with the plan that if their father asked either of the two girls to be alone in a room with him, they would only do so if at least one other member of the trio were present to avoid either girl being raped. Both girls also developed a routine, where they would only shower or undress when their father was either out of the house, or as her sister stood guard at the door. Stephen was also informed by his father that he would have to have sex with his mother by the age of 17, but ended up being evicted from their home when he turned 16.
Although the girls were disgusted by their father’s behavior, Mae developed a mechanism where she would tolerate her father sexually fondling her, then jokingly brush aside any efforts he made to take the molestation further. In her autobiography, she recollected that Heather “was affected quite badly by all of this. Even more than me.” A strong suspicion remains that, by 1985 or 1986, Heather had been forced to engage in sexual relations with her father, and by the mid 1980s, she developed classic symptoms of the distress felt by victims of child abuse. These included habits of her biting her nails until they bled, drinking alcohol, or warily watching her father through the corner of her eye wherever she was sitting or standing, and expressing nervous fragility whenever in the presence of men. Additionally, her sleep was repeatedly broken by nightmares, and she would repeatedly bounce back and forth as she sat on any chair. This distressful behavior led Fred and Rose to suspect Heather of being a lesbian, which also resulted in her becoming the recipient of taunts from her father, saying that she was “ugly” and a “bitch”. On the occasions Heather remonstrated about the abuse to her mother, Rose would simply laugh at her distress.
THE WEST’S SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AND PLANNED TO MURDER CAROLINE OWENS
In October of 1972, the Wests hired a 17 year old woman, Caroline Owens, as their children’s nanny. They had picked her up one night on a secluded road while she was hitchhiking home from her boyfriend’s home. Learning that Owens disliked her stepfather and was looking for a job, they offered her a part time job as a nanny to the three children that were in their household at that time. She was promised that she would be driven home every Tuesday. Several days later, Owens moved into 25 Cromwell Street, sharing a room with Anna, who Owen’s noted was “very withdrawn”. Considering Rose was involved in sex work at this time, she explained to Owens that she worked as a massage therapist, so the people who were coming to the home so frequently were her clients. Fred also claimed to be skilled in performing abortions, if she would ever need one.
When Owens herself became the recipient of their sexual advances, she announced her intentions to quit and leave their home.
Knowing Owens’ habits of hitchhiking along certain roads, the couple came up with a plan to abduct her for their shared pleasure. Fred later admitted that the specific intent of this abduction was the rape and likely murder of Owens, but that his initial incentive was to determine whether his wife would be willing to at least assist him in an abduction. On December 6th, 1972, the couple lured Owens into their vehicle with an apology for their conduct and offered to drive her home. Initially, she believed they had been sincere in their apologies to her and accepted a ride. Rose joined her in the back seat, claiming she wanted to have a “girls’ chat” as Fred drove.
Shortly after, Rose began to fondle her, as Fred questioned whether she had had sex with her boyfriend that evening. When Owens began to protest, Fred stopped the car, referred to Owens as a “bitch”, and punched her, causing her to go unconscious, and then was bound and gagged with a scarf and duct tape. In her statement to police, Owens stated that she was given a drugged cup of tea to drink, then again gagged and subjected to a prolonged sexual assault from Fred and Rose. At one stage, Fred remarked that her clitoris was unusual, then slashed her genitals with a leather belt. When she screamed, Rose smothered her with a pillow and further restrained her about the neck before performing cunnilingus on her. Quickly realizing the gravity of her situation, she stopped resisting.
The next morning, having noticed her creaming when one of his children had knocked on the door of the room where she was restrained, he threatened that he and his wife would keep her locked up in the cellar and allow his “black friends” to abuse her, and that when they had finished, he would bury her body. Fred then claimed he had killed hundreds of young girls, adding that she had primarily been brought to the house for “Rose’s pleasure”. He and Rose then calmly asked Owens whether she would consider returning to work as their nanny. Seeing her chance to escape, she agreed, and vacuumed the house to indicate her belief in becoming an extended member of the family. Later that day, she escaped from a laundromat that she and Rose went to and went back home. She was initially too ashamed to tell her mother what had happened, but when her mother noticed the welts, bruises and exposed tissue on her body, Owens burst into tears and told her what happened.
Her mother immediately reported her daughter’s ordeal to the police, and the Wests were arrested and charged with assault, indecent assault, actual bodily harm, and rape. The case was tried on January 12th, 1973, but Owens had decided that she couldn’t face the ordeal of testifying in court. All charges pertaining to her sexual abuse were dropped, and the Wests agreed to plead guilty to the reduced charges of indecent assault and causing actual bodily harm, and each of them were fined £50, were allowed to walk free. When Owens heard this news, she attempted to take her own life.
THE MURDER OF HEATHER WEST
Heather complained to her friends about the abuse she and her siblings endured, and her external signs of psychological distress were noted by several of them. Staff at her secondary school which Heather and her siblings attended, are also known to have expressed concern as to why Heathe refused to obey orders either to change her clothing for, or shower after, sporting activities. On one occasion, she was forced to take a shower, resulting in her peers and staff noting her arms, legs and torso were covered in welts and bruises in various stages of healing. Heather attempted to excuse these injuries as having been from fights with her siblings, but confided in one close friend that they had been inflicted by her parents, adding that her mother considered her a “little bitch” who deserved her beating.
By the mid 1980s, rumors of Rose’s sex life had reached several of the children’s classmates, and although the West children had been instructed never to talk about details of their home lives to others, Heather confided to her friends that many of these rumors were true. The father of one of these classmates was a friend of the West’s, so word soon reached Fred and Rose that Heather had explained details of her home life, including details of her mother’s promiscuity to her classmates. Fred was so concerned by these revelations that he began to escort Heather to and from school.
After Heather left school in 1986, she applied to several jobs in an effort to leave home. By June of the following year, she had high hopes of escaping her home by getting a job as a chalet cleaner at a holiday camp. On June 18th, 1987, she received notification that this application was declined. In response, she burst into tears in front of her siblings Mae and Stephen. That same evening, her whole family heard Heather crying loudly as she tried to sleep. The next morning Heather was “back to her usual self, looking miserable, biting her nails and sitting on the couch bouncing back and forth as she sat,” as her siblings left the house to go to school.
When Heather’s siblings returned home, they were informed that Heather had left to accept the job she had previously been refused. However, Rose told a neighbor that she and Heather had had a “hell of a row,” and that Heather had run away from home. Later, to answer their children’s questions about why Heather failed to contact or visit her siblings, the parents claimed that she had eloped with a lesbian lover. When Mae and Stephen suggested they report her disappearance to police, Fred changed his story yet again, saying it would be unwise to initiate a search for Heather as she was involved in credit card fraud. On more than one occasion, Fred and Rose persuaded an unknown acquaintance to fake phone calls from Heather to her parents.
In the years following Heather’s disappearance, Fred would sometimes jokingly threaten the children that they would “end up under the patio like Heather” if they either misbehaved or spoke about the mistreatment they endured to anyone outside the household. With Rose’s approval, he later constructed a barbecue pit opposite where Heather had been buried, and placed a pine table on her grave for the children of the family to sit upon whenever they held family gatherings in their garden. Heather’s disappearance, along with Fred and Rose’s constantly changing stories about their daughter’s whereabouts, plus their jokes about foul play, ultimately led to police enquiries as to Heather’s whereabouts. These enquiries culminated in a search warrant being issued to search the Wests’ garden in February of 1994.
THE REMAINING VICTIMS
The couple murdered their first known victim in April of 1973, and their last known victim in August of 1979.
April 20th, 1973
Lynda Gough (19): She was a lodger and shared sex partners with Rose. Following her disappearance, Gough’s mother traveled to Cromwell Street to ask about her daughter’s whereabouts, when she saw Rose wearing her daughter’s clothes and slippers. She was informed that Lynda had moved to find work in a different town. Her remains were buried in an inspection pit beneath the garage, which was later converted into a bathroom.
November 10th, 1973
Carol Ann Cooper (15):
She had been placed into care following her mother’s death in 1966. She was last seen alive by her boyfriend while boarding a bus to her grandmother’s house. Fred referred to Cooper as “Scar Hand” in reference to a recent firework burn she had sustained. Cooper was the final victim found from the cellar. Her skull was bound with surgical tape and her dismembered limbs were bound with a cord and braiding cloth.
December 27th, 1973
Lucy Partington (21):
She was a college student who was abducted from a bus stop. Her precise day of death may have been one week after her disappearance, as Fred admitted himself into the casualty unit of the Gloucester Royal Hospital with a serious laceration of his right hand on January 3rd, which was possibly sustained as he dismembered her body. Her body was discovered in the Cromwell Street cellar on 6 March 1994.
April 16th, 1974
Thérèse Siegenthaler (21):
She was a college student who was studying sociology and was abducted while hitchhiking. Fred mistook her Swiss accent to be a Dutch accent, and always referred to her as either “the Dutch girl” or “Tulip”. She was reported missing by her family in Switzerland when communication from their daughter stopped. Fred later concealed her remains by building a false chimney breast on her grave.
November 15h, 1974
Shirley Hubbard, (15):
She was a foster child abducted from a bus stop. Her dismembered remains were found in a section of the cellar known to the family as the “Marilyn Monroe area.” Her head had been completely covered in tape, with a one eighth of an inch diameter rubber tube inserted three inches into her nasal cavity to enable her to breathe.
April 12th, 1975
Juanita Mott, (18):
She had been a former lodger at 25 Cromwell Street, but was living with a family friend when she disappeared. She is believed to have been abducted by the Wests as she was hitchhiking. In his confessions to the police, Fred would refer to her as “the girl from Newent.”
May 10th, 1978
Shirley Robinson (18):
She was another former lodger at 25 Cromwell Street, and was a bisexual woman who had engaged in casual sex with Fred and Rose. At the time of her disappearance, she had been eight months pregnant with Fred’s child, and her baby boy was supposed to be born on June 11th. No sexual motive existed for this murder, and the prosecution contended at Rose’s trial that Robinson had been murdered as her pregnancy threatened the stability of the Wests’ relationship. Fred had originally planned to sell their baby to a childless couple and had photographs taken with Robinson for this purpose.
August 5th, 1979
Alison Chambers (16):
She had been placed into foster care at the age of 14, and had repeatedly absconded from Jordan’s Brook House. She became acquainted with the Wests in mid 1979, and Fred later claimed to his solicitor that she had died as a result of Rose becoming “too bloody vicious” with her. Her dismembered body, missing several bones and with a leather belt looped beneath her jaw and tied at the top of her head, was buried in the garden of Cromwell Street. This was the final murder where a definite sexual motive was established.
Additional to the confirmed 12 victims, police firmly believe Fred is also responsible for the 1968 disappearance of Mary Bastholm (15), but her remains have never been found. West’s son, Stephen, has said he firmly believes the missing teenager was an early victim of his father, as Fred had openly bragged of having committed Bastholm’s murder.
CHARGES AND SENTENCING
On May 6th,Fred and Rose were jointly charged with five counts of murder, with Rose simply replying, “I’m innocent” upon hearing each formal charge, a response that proved to be a theme throughout each of the 46 interviews investigators held with Rose prior to her trial. As well as the murders of the victims exhumed from Cromwell Street, Fred had confessed to the murders of his first wife and step daughter, and to knowing the location of Anne McFall’s remains, even though he has always denied killing her. Fred agreed to identify each burial location, and the remains were found between April 10th and June 7th. After being transferred to the prison, he was instantly put on suicide watch. On June 30th, 1994, Fred was charged with 12 murders, and Rose was charged with 9. This was the first time the couple had seen each other since Fred was arrested in February.
After Fred’s suicide watch had been more relaxed, he ended up killing himself in his jail cell by strangling himself in January of 1995. At the bottom his suicide note was a gravestone, with “In loving memory. Fred West. Rose West. Rest in peace where no shadow falls. In perfect peace he waits for Rose, his wife,” written inside.
Rose pleaded not guilty to ten charges of murder, and her trial began October 3rd, 1995. After seven weeks of evidence the judge instructed the jury, emphasizing that circumstantial evidence can be sufficient for a finding of guilt, and that if two people take part in a murder, the law considers them equally guilty regardless of which of them did the deed. On November 21st and 22nd, the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict for all ten of the murders. She was given life in prison without the possibility of parole. She is currently still in prison at the age of 69.
According to the 2020 TV documentary Rose West & Myra Hindley: Their Untold Story with Trevor McDonald, Rose and Hindley “grew close in jail, bonding over their similar crimes, then had an affair, which cooled as they became rivals to be “prison royalty.”
