Fred & Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors

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It’s one of the horrible things about the case that there are so many question marks, so much unknown,” he added. She had received minimal training and this was the first time she had been asked to perform the role. She was told only that the person she was to assist was a 52-year-old man with "learning difficulties". As police attempted to lead Fred from the hearing, he resisted their efforts, and again attempted to move towards Rose, who again winced and attempted to writhe away from his grasp. [171] Fred is known to have killed at least twelve young women, while Rose is known to have murdered at least nine victims, as well as her eight-year-old step-daughter Charmaine.

Adding to the horror is that those killed include family members: Charmaine West, Fred’s 8-year-old stepdaughter from his first marriage to Catherine “Rena” Costello, and Heather West, 16, his eldest child with Rosemary. Rose occasionally sexually abused Anna Marie herself, and later took extreme gratification in degrading her with acts such as binding Anna Marie to various items of furniture before encouraging Fred to rape her, and forcing her to perform household chores while wearing sexual devices and a mini-skirt. [97] From the age of 13, Fred and Rose forced Anna Marie to prostitute herself within the household, with her clients being informed Anna Marie was 16. Rose was always present in the room when these acts occurred, [98] to ensure Anna Marie did not reveal her true age. [99] On one occasion when Anna Marie was aged 13 or 14, Rose took her to a local pub, insisting she drink several glasses of barley wine. Several hours later, Fred arrived at the pub to collect Rose and Anna Marie. Once they had left the premises, Anna Marie was bundled into her father's van and beaten by Rose, who asked her: "Do you think you could be my friend?" before she was sexually abused by her father and stepmother. [100] Caroline Owens [ edit ] By 6 May, 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. [166] As we were leaving, Partington mentioned a book which had helped her – Eva Hoffman's meditation on the aftermath of the Holocaust, After Such Knowledge. It is a title, it occurs to me now, which might have served for Appropriate Adult.Initially, Rose was incarcerated at HMP Bronzefield as a Category A prisoner; [199] she was later transferred to HM Prison Low Newton before, in 2019, being transferred to HM Prison New Hall, [200] where she continues to protest her innocence. [198] [201] Victims [ edit ] He said to me: 'Can you remember helping me dig those holes in the garden when you were a kid?' I said I couldn't remember, but he said, 'We did it together, you know.' Then he said: 'That's where the girls were found, in the exact holes'." April 1961 - Fred's first court appearance. Along with his friend Brian Hill, Fred is pleads guilty to stealing a gold watch strap and two cigarette cases. They are both fined.

Fred confessed on February 26 to killing two more women, one named Shirley Robinson, 18, and another subsequently identified by police as Alison Chambers, 16. The remains of both were later found in the garden.

At the bottom of the suicide note found in his cell was a drawing of a gravestone, within which was written: "In loving memory. Fred West. Rose West. Rest in peace where no shadow falls. In perfect peace he waits for Rose, his wife." [174] Trial of Rose West [ edit ] Classmates recall Fred as scruffy, dim, lethargic, and regularly in trouble. [6] Throughout his life he remained barely literate, yet displayed an aptitude for woodwork and artwork. He left school in December 1956 at the age of 15, first working as a labourer at Moorcourt Farm. [9] July: Anne McFall, (18). McFall's remains were found on 7 June 1994 in Fingerpost Field, Much Marcle. Her body had been placed in a rectangular pit and covered with loose topsoil. She had been pregnant with a daughter, and her pregnancy had been in its eighth month. [212]

The West case was one of the most disturbing serial murder cases in British criminal history. Murder most foul, but it seems even foulness is relative. The case is appalling on a number of levels: The horrific details of the offences, the juxtaposition of ordinary day to day routine family life with depraved, sadistic sex, torture and murder of innocent young women, who were just starting out on their lives, the shear persistence of the offending that remained undetected for so many years and the cruel unknowing that had to be painfully borne by the victims loved ones. The nation was scarred as the details emerged. There was a sense of an unwelcome mirror held up to society, if it ever needed to be, reminding us of just what depths humankind can sink. In my book I have considered the questions of how and why Fred and Rose West developed into the monsters that together committed such dreadful acts. Those are questions that a court of law does not enquire into. It is perhaps a paradox that the sharp logic and economy of the law also must serve to curtail a wider discourse. Rose is believed to have killed Charmaine shortly before Fred's prison release date of 24 June 1971. She is known to have taken Charmaine, Anna Marie and Heather to visit Fred on 15 June. It is believed to be on or very shortly after this date that Charmaine was murdered. As well as forensic odontology confirmation that Charmaine had died while Fred was still incarcerated, further testimony from Tracey Giles' mother, Shirley, corroborated the fact that Charmaine had been murdered before Fred had been released on 24 June. 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!" [65] before Tracey began to weep. [66] Giles was adamant Fred was still in prison on this occasion. [67]

Rose gave no outward reaction as the guilty verdict was delivered, said Summers. “I think she probably knew what was coming.” When Gough's dismembered body was found, the jaw was completely wrapped in adhesive and surgical tape to silence her screams, and two small tubes had likely been inserted into her nasal cavities to allow breathing. Long sections of string and sections of knotted fabric were also discovered with her remains. Gough had likely been suspended from holes carved into the wooden beams supporting the ceiling of the cellar Fred later admitted he had devised for the purpose of suspending his victims' bodies, and likely died of either strangulation or suffocation. [112] Her dismembered body, missing five cervical vertebrae, the patellae and numerous finger bones, was buried in an inspection pit beneath the garage. [113] She lost her appeal against the conviction in 1996 and, the following year, her life sentence was converted to a “whole-life” tariff.