'I'm Fred & Rose West's daughter – I played dress-up in their victims' clothes'

Daily Mirror

5 days ago

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT - Mae West is the eldest surviving daughter of Fred and Rose West, who were convicted of 12 murders in the 1970s and 1980s
The children of serial killers Fred and Rose West faced horrific abuse at the hands of their parents - including their daughter, Mae.
Since the notorious couple were imprisoned in 1995, Mae, now 53, has strived to lead a life that bears some semblance of normality, far removed from the monstrous individuals she once called Mum and Dad.
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Her mother Rose was handed 10 life sentences after aiding her husband Fred in a killing spree of at least 12 women during the 70s and 80s in Gloucester - two of the victims being their own children, Charmaine and Heather West.
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While Rose has consistently maintained her innocence, Fred evaded justice by taking his own life while awaiting trial. Now, three decades since being incarcerated at HMP New Hall, reports suggest that Rose, 71, who adopted the name Jennifer Jones in 2020, is becoming increasingly isolated and frail.
A source revealed to The Sun this week: "She's in a disabled room now because she can barely walk. No one talks to her because everyone knows who she is and what she did, even if she has changed her name."
Now Rose finds herself completely alone after severing ties with eldest surviving daughter Mae. Mae grew up at 25 Cromwell Street, one of eight children. By the time she was born, they had already killed her half-sister Charmaine and her father's previous wife, Catherine 'Rena' West.
Bedtime stories or a goodnight kiss from her parents were non-existent, and toys were few and far between in their home. As a result, they often invented their own games - donning the clothes of their parents' victims for make-believe dress-up, which they discovered while confined to the cellar at night.
By the age of seven, Mae endured severe sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her parents, with her own father forcing her and her older sister Heather to view pornographic material with him. This grim future was something her older half-sister Anne Marie had warned her about.
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"One day, I went swimming with Anne Marie and she told me she'd been sexually abused by Mum and Dad," said Mae, who now lives in the West Country with her husband and two children.
"She said it had gone on for years and warned me they might try to do the same to me," she penned in her 2018 memoir, Love As Always, Mum.
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It was even suggested that the depraved Fred harboured intentions of impregnating his daughters, telling them: "I made you; I can do what I like with you."
He openly boasted about filming Rose having sex with random men while he was concealed in the wardrobe, Mae revealed to the Daily Mail. "I used to find it completely repulsive. Their fascination with risqué sexual activities was never hidden from us. They'd leave adult magazines and bondage equipment: masks, rubber suits, whips and the like, scattered around the house.
"It wasn't uncommon for us children to stumble upon dildos, vibrators and other intimate toys casually left around the home. Dad found our reactions more amusing than anything else."
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With Fred and Rose exposing their offspring to sex at an early age, Mae, as a teenager, was often enlisted to assist Rose, who had become a sex worker, in arranging appointments with her clients who would visit the house, even when the children were present.
Rose also subjected her daughter to abuse, once dragging a knife along her ribcage. She and her siblings lived in constant fear of their parents' threats that they would end up "under the patio" like their sister, Heather.
However, Mae does remember occasional breaks from the torment they suffered. "We ate meals and watched telly together, celebrated birthdays and Christmas, and went on family holidays," Mae wrote in her book.
"Mum used to bake splendid cakes. We'd always have a fantastic iced sponge for our birthdays and an equally delightful fruit cake laced with alcohol at Christmas time.
"She always made a real effort for special occasions and Christmas Day was the one day we truly felt like any other family."