‘Lonely' Rose West's bizarre morning ritual & bribe to make friends in jail as serial killer's last days are revealed

The Irish Sun

3 days ago

ROSE West has a bizarre morning routine after three decades behind bars, The Sun can reveal.
Britain's
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Serial killer Rose West spends most of her days alone in her prison cell knitting and talking to the TV
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West was jailed for life in 1995 for murdering ten women and girls with husband Fred
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The fiend, now 71, languishes in a room for the disabled on her prison wing because she can barely walk
The murders and sexual assaults, committed at their House of Horrors in Gloucester, etch Rose into public memory as Britain's most abhorrent female killer.
After 30 years behind bars, West is now increasingly frail and can barely walk.
Read how Rose West is spending her final days in prison exclusively in Sun Club.
She is understood to spend a lot of time in her cell and almost never leaves the wing she is kept on.
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Each morning she has a strange habit of taking down her handmade curtains, The Sun has learned.
A source told The Sun: 'She made her own curtains for her cell but would only keep them up for an hour or so and then take them down, fold them, and put them away in her clothing cupboard.'
Prisoners are allowed to wear their own clothes and Rose would often wear plain black or blue work trousers with a red top.
The Sun revealed earlier this week that West would sometimes order tomato soup and eat it in her cell for breakfast.
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The strange details shed light on her routine inside one of a handful of Britain's women's only prisons, HMP New Hall near Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
The couple's horrendous crimes have come back into the spotlight after the release of new Netflix docuseries Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story.
Netflix documentary delves into the crimes of Fred and Rose West with new testimony and footage
Now known as Jennifer Jones after changing her name by deed poll in 2020, West spends her days watching nature documentaries in her cell.
She is shunned by other inmates despite her attempts to make friends.
A source told The Sun: 'She's in a disabled room now because she can barely walk.
'She never really leaves the wing she is held on and is escorted all the time by prison officers if she goes anywhere. Sometimes she sits in the communal areas on her own.
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West has been at New Hall for six years and enjoys a cushy life
Credit: Alamy
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Despite changing her name, everyone knows Rose's real identity at the women-only HMP New Hall near Wakefield in West Yorkshire
Credit: Alamy
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Ten victims of Rose and Fred West
"No one talks to her because everyone knows who she is and what she did, even if she has changed her name.
'She tried to make friends with the other women and gave them gifts, like vapes, but she was always rejected.
'She likes to watch nature documentaries on the TV in her cell, she likes ones about birds.'
Prison protocol means that whenever West walks anywhere in the prison she is surrounded by guards on each side.
Since she abandoned her attempts to appeal for conviction in 2001, West is understood to be resigned to dying in prison, despite still maintaining her innocence.
West was moved to New Hall in 2019 after spending 11 years at Durham's Low Newton.
Before that she was kept at Bronzefield prison, in Ashford, Surrey, before
It is believed she was moved from Low Newton after fellow serial killer Joanna Dennehy reportedly made threats towards her.
West is now being held in a special unit which houses women with personality disorders or those with enhanced status.
Each of the 16 prisoners in Rivendell House has an ensuite cell and the communal areas are 'more inviting' than other blocks in the prison, according to inspection reports.
Raised flower beds and manicured lawns are also designed to form a 'psychologically informed environment'.
Lags held there can take part in yoga classes, film nights, and knitting classes.
The Sun revealed previously how West had written letters to pals on the outside about her joy at taking part in the prison book club.
Hinting at her cushy life at New Hall, she wrote: "I love stories, I like hearing stories being read, and also I have enjoyed taking part.
"It's really good to be able to join in with something that doesn't mean too much stress."
However, insiders revealed West sometimes lashes out at staff if she does not get her own way.
Incredibly, she also still receives letters from twisted 'fans'.
The source added: 'She can be quite abusive to officers if she doesn't get what she wants and she's very set in her ways.
'If she asks for something and it doesn't happen within five minutes, she'll get the hump.
'No one wants to talk to her or be close to her. She sits in the social areas around everyone else just to annoy the other women, knowing they don't want to be around her.
'Often she's just in her cell on her own and the other prisoners can hear her talking to the TV if they walk past.
'Her hair is grey now and she's put on some weight but she still looks the same and she still wears her glasses.
'She never gets any visitors but still gets loads of post and cards from sick admirers on the outside, which has to go through security checks before it gets to her.'
West is one of 36 women serving life sentences at the jail, and one of around a dozen female prisoners there over the age of 60.
Collectively
Their daughter
Some of the young women who were murdered lived with the couple, while others were abducted from the street.
Fred never faced justice for his crimes as he killed himself in HMP Birmingham while awaiting trial.
In 2021, police began searching for the body of Mary Bastholm, who was 15 when she disappeared in 1968, in the basement of a Gloucester cafe once frequented by Fred.
Detectives made it clear they would quiz Rose if they found the teenager's remains.
Police did not find Mary's body and West was ultimately never questioned.
The family home on Cromwell Street, Gloucester,
Horrors hidden for years
By Julia Atherley
FRED and Rose West's gruesome killing spree went undetected for decades.
The couple raped, tortured and killed at least 12 women and girls between them, from 1967 to 1987.
Their atrocities came to light in 1994 after their children told social workers a sister — Heather, who had not been seen since 1986 — was 'under the patio'.
Detectives then uncovered the remains of nine women and girls at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester.
Rose had met Fred in 1969 when she was 15 and he 27.
She became pregnant with Heather, and looked after Fred's two daughters from a previous marriage, Charmaine and Anne Marie.
Charmaine was eight when murdered by Rose in June 1971.
Her mum Catherine was also killed.
After giving birth to her second child, Mae June West, Rose started working as a prostitute at the house.
The Wests also lured lodgers to their death.
Lucy Partington, Juanita Mott and Shirley Hubbard were found in the basement.
Therese Siegenthaler was hidden under concrete in front of a false fireplace.
Police also discovered lodger Lynda Gough, whose jaw was taped to silence her, and Carol Ann Cooper.
Fred killed himself at HMP Birmingham on New Year's Day 1995 while awaiting trial for 12 murders.
In November 1995, Rose was convicted of ten murders at Winchester crown court.
She tried to pin all the crimes on Fred. An appeal was refused.
She is one of only four women to be given a whole life order, along with triple killer Joanna Dennehy, baby murderer Lucy Letby, and Moors Murderer Myra Hindley, who died in 2002.