'I was locked up with Rose West - she flew into a rage at another crime'

Daily Mirror

a day ago

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Linda Calvey, once dubbed the Black Widow, has rubbed shoulders with some of the most evil women in British history – including child murderers Myra Hindley and Rose West
Ever wondered what it's like to be incarcerated in prison alongside some of Britain's most notorious criminals? Few can imagine the chilling experience of sharing a prison wing with sadistic child murderers. However, one woman who knows all too well is Linda Calvey, also known as the Black Widow.
The infamous East End gangster, now 76, made a name for herself as a bank robber but ended up behind bars for gunning down her lover Ronnie Cook. Her crimes put her behind bars for more than 20 years, and at one point she held the title of Britain's longest-serving living female prisoner.
‌
‌
In a book published back in 2019 after her release, she unveiled the reality of being locked up with two of Britain's most wicked women – Myra Hindley and Rose West. West, now 71, was handed a life sentence in 1995 for her role in assisting her husband Fred to rape and murder at least 12 women and girls at their Cromwell Street home in Gloucester. She's locked up in HMP New Hall where 'she can barely walk and has no friends'.
And Hindley was sentenced to life imprisonment for the torture and murder of five children with her partner Ian Brady during the 1960s.
Fred and Rose West are currently the subjects of a Netflix documentary, Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story. It includes never-before-seen footage from the depraved dungeon where the evil duo carried out some of their heinous murders.
‌
Looking back on her time inside, Calvey recalled, "I was in Durham prison. Myra and Rose were both there too. They used to sit ­together and became very pally but then suddenly they stopped talking. I think Rose's solicitor told her it doesn't look good."
Calvey went on to describe West's unpredictable temper, often triggered by the most peculiar things. "I saw her go into a rant once and it looked like toothpaste coming out of her mouth," she said. "She was foaming like a mad person. She was upset about a drink driver who ran over a cyclist. "We were in a debating class where they look through the papers and get us to discuss something. She kept screaming, 'It's disgusting, his poor family.'"
‌
Calvey added, "She also got upset when her cell was set on fire and it nearly killed her budgie. She went to pieces. She was sobbing over this little bird, begging them not to let it die."
Calvey further revealed: "She was so angry at Fred for hanging himself. We all heard the boys chanting next door 'Fred is dead' and she was the only one who didn't know what it meant at the time."
‌
During her time inside, Calvey started a grim collection of trinkets made or given to her by the killers. She purchased a cushion crafted by West. Hindley gifted her a nightie, a cardigan, some Christmas cards and an empty heart-shaped box.
Despite her heinous crimes, Calvey describes Moors murderer Hindley – whom she once slapped in prison – as appearing more like a "suburban ­housewife" than a monster, complete with pink nail varnish and a flowing kaftan. Hindley had a fear of spiders, once pleading with Calvey to kill one in her cell. "She screamed and hid behind me and told me to kill it, saying, 'You're the Black Widow,'" Calvey recalls.
‌
"I was astounded that the woman who had murdered children could be frightened of ending a spider's life." She added: "That's when I noticed she had a locked briefcase under her bed. "She told me it was her personal ­papers. But we weren't allowed to keep private documents on the wing. I've always wanted to know what was in that case."
Calvey became acquainted with Hindley when she was appointed as her hairdresser at Highpoint prison in Suffolk. "She was fussy about her hair as that was the only control she had left," Calvey revealed.
‌
"She liked it dyed a dark shade of red once a month. And twice a week I had to wash it. She would sit there chain smoking roll-ups." Hindley introduced Calvey as her friend to her mother, even asking her fellow inmate to converse with the elderly woman over the phone. Calvey recalled: "She phoned her mum to say she had a lovely friend.
"I would think, 'I'm not your friend'. I was only there as I was forced to do her hair. She asked me to speak to her on the phone and I did every Sunday. I felt sorry for her having a ­daughter like that."
‌
According to Calvey, Hindley spent her final days harbouring resentment towards the mothers of her victims. "She was very bitter about ­being in prison and believed she shouldn't be. She was especially bitter towards Lesley Anne Downey 's mum and called her 'that b****y woman'.
"She didn't speak about her crimes except once, when she said Brady forced her to do it. Calvey first encountered the child murderer at Cookham Wood prison in Kent when she was sentenced to three-and-a-half years for armed robbery.She said: 'I worked in the library and she would take out violent and gory books that were banned to her under other people's names.' Hindley died in prison in November 2002, aged 60.
Calvey revealed that she received marriage proposals from gang boss Reggie Kray and notorious armed robber Charles Bronson, who recently made a fresh bid to be released from prison, aged 81. She shared: "Reggie asked me to marry him over the phone. He phoned me twice a week and I used to get bouquets of flowers from him. He sent me trainers once. I said it wasn't good for either of us, really thinking it wouldn't be good for me as I'd still be sitting there now if I was Mrs Kray.'
On Bronson, Calvey remarked: "He proposed to me so many times but he's a serial proposer."