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The Irish Sun
19-05-2025
- The Irish Sun
I looked Rose West in the eye as she blamed her VICTIMS for horrific sexual abuse they suffered, says killer's lawyer
"VERY controlled, secretive and full of rage" - those were the words used to describe Rose West by a man with insight like no other. She is considered among Britain's most sadistic serial killers, having tortured and murdered 10 young women, 8 Fred and Rose West are known as two of Britain's most evil killers Credit: Rex Features 8 The chilling 'sex dungeon' cellar where the Wests abused some of their victims Credit: SWNS:South West News Service 8 The Wests' former nanny Caroline Owens was victim of their sexual attacks Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd In 1995, Among them was their 16-year-old daughter Heather, the victim of violent sexual abuse by Fred, He Leo recalls: 'Like Fred, in a lot of her interviews she would deflect blame from themselves to the children. 'She would say things happened with Caroline but she was up for it, she wanted it… She says she was exaggerating. She's making a fuss. 'Fred had this really warped idea that it was a father's right to take his daughter's virginity and that Heather was a lesbian. They claimed they just wanted her to have a good marriage and somehow this shocking abuse would facilitate that.' Most read in The Sun The harrowing crimes of the couple, who were branded 'the epitome of evil' in court, came to light in 1992 after their daughter Louise, 13, accused Fred of rape and The case collapsed when eldest daughter Anne Marie, who was abused by them from the age of eight, refused to testify but remarks by the West children raised serious concern with police. Netflix's Fred & Rose West A British Horror Story launches 14 May They launched a major investigation after hearing the youngsters were regularly threatened to be buried 'under the patio like their sister Heather', who vanished five years prior. Collectively the Wests killed at least 12 women and girls - ranging from youngest victim, Rose's stepdaughter Charmaine, eight, to the eldest Fred's ex-wife Catherine 'Reno' Costello, 27. Eight of the murdered young women were teenagers, some of whom lived with the couple. Others were employed as nannies and some schoolgirls were abducted from the street. Fred never faced justice for his crimes, killing himself in HMP Birmingham before the couple's trial, and Rose was among the few evil criminals to be sentenced to a whole life term - meaning she will never be released from prison. Leo who represented Rose for 12 years from 1992, including her appeals, recalled she was a 'sociable' woman, who 'liked a joke' but there was a darker side simmering below the surface. 'She could also be very controlled and secretive sometimes, she would fly into a rage and shriek and spit,' he explained. 8 Rose West, pictured after appearing in court in 1995, received a whole life tariff Credit: Alamy 8 The couple's daughter Heather West was killed and buried under the patio Credit: Shutterstock 8 Leo Goatley represented Rose West from 1992 Credit: Alamy 'I recall one witness described her as being 'rough' during a lesbian encounter. Rose insisted she was tender and got very upset. 'Another time, I'd be reading out a statement and asking her, 'Were you with Fred in this van when you abducted Anne Marie?'. 'She'd trill and say 'it's nothing to do with me,' even though she later admitted to it. It was a primitive human response. 'I don't dispute that, in those moments, she would have been capable of extreme violence. She was, of course, complex and there was a maternal side to her too.' 'Horrors locked away' Leo believes Rose has 'dissociated herself' from her unforgivable crimes and 'locked the horrors of Cromwell Street away in a room of her mind'. Instead of facing up to what she has done, Rose has donned a new mask - the homely, sewing 'caregiver' in prison, in a bid to distance herself from her evil wrongdoing. 'She'd much rather be the amenable, kindly old lady who likes to spend tea with a vicar's wife who visits behind bars,' he says. LIVES LOST: The victims of Fred and Rose West By Raphael Adelugba, Tanyel Mustafa and Caroline Peacock Anna McFall The nanny of Fred and Rena West's children, McFall was believed to have been murdered in 1967. She was pregnant when she died, with West believed to have been the father. Her body was found in June 1994 in a shallow grave. Fred West denied murdering McFall but he is said to have confided to a visitor after his arrest that he stabbed her following an argument. This happened before Rosemary West met him. Charmaine West With Fred in prison for the theft of car tyres and a vehicle tax disc, Rosemary was left to look after Fred and Rena's daughters Charmaine and Anne Marie. A neighbour Tracey is said to have found Charmaine tied to a wooden chair with her hands behind a back with Rosemary standing with a large wooden spoon. Rosemary claimed she'd been taken by her mother, but her skeleton was found at the Midland Road property, hidden and missing bones. Rena West Rena is believed to have been murdered by strangulation. Rosemary was not charged for this murder. Lynda Gough Lynda Gough was the first sexually motivated killing conducted by the Wests. She moved into Cromwell Street in April 1973, having had affairs with several lodgers. The Wests later claimed she'd been asked to leave after hitting one of their children. Strangulation and suffocation were the likely causes of death. Carol Ann Cooper Cooper was murdered in November 1973, aged just 15. On the night of November 9, she was allowed to spend the night at her grandmother's house before a doctor's appointment the next morning. She attended the appointment and then met her boyfriend, before somehow ending up on Cromwell Street. Her body was found more than twenty years later. Lucy Partington A 21-year-old medieval English student at Exeter University, she returned home for Christmas in December 1973. She left a friend's house in a rush to get the last bus from Cheltenham to Gretton on 27 December, with it believed she was abducted from this bus stop. She was found more twenty years later, her dismembered body in the cellar of Cromwell Street. Therese Siegenthaler A 21-year-old Swiss sociology student at Woolwich Polytechnic. She had planned to hitchhike to Ireland in Easter 1974. Her family reported her missing having not heard from her for some time. Prosecution believe she was abducted before being killed, with Fred West later building a fake chimney over her grave. Shirley Hubbard Just 15 at the time of her death, Hubbard is believed to have been abducted by the Wests. Her body was found following an excavation in the concrete and plastic membrane of the cellar floor. Juanita Mott In the summer of 1974, Mott moved into 25 Cromwell Street but later went missing when she was living in Newent. Her body was found in March 1994, 19 years later, with West having concreted over the floor of the cellar. Shirley Robinson The first victim buried outside the house, Robinson had an affair with Fred West, and by autumn 1977, she was pregnant with West's child. It was initially claimed she had moved to Scotland but her body was later found. When questioned, Rosemary West, herself pregnant with her daughter Tara at the time of the murder, claimed she did not remember her, which was described as 'ludicrous' by the prosecution. Alison Chambers The last murder with a sexual motive established. She disappeared just before her 17 th birthday, having been seen at 25 Cromwell Street throughout the summer. Her body was buried underneath the patio. Heather West The first child born to Fred and Rosemary West, there is no evidence she was aware of the killings. Sexually abused by her parents and having told friends, she suddenly went missing in 1987, with Rosemary claiming she had gone to Wales to be with a lesbian partner. The couple would joke to their other children that they would 'end up under the patio like Heather' if they misbehaved. This, and their changing stories, lead to the search warrants for the property, which lead to their arrests. This dissociation maintains a chilling remorselessness from the killer, who Leo says he has only seen emotional on a handful of occasions, including after Fred admitted to killing their daughter Heather. 'It was one of the few times I saw Rose in a collapsed, inconsolable state,' he tells us. 'Whether they were tears of self-pity or remorse, I'll never know. 'I have no doubt, now, that she knew Heather was buried in their garden.' 8 Police searching for victim remains in the Wests' garden Credit: Getty 8 The 12 young women killed by Fred and Rose West Another followed her being convicted of 10 counts of murder. Leo recalls she 'was in tears and muttering something about Fred' while sat in her Winchester County Court cell. 'Tacit admission' However, in a twisted and telling moment, there was no such emotion after discovering her husband had taken his own life - instead, she appeared to be happy. Leo says: 'She was different…There were mixed emotions but a certain warm glow - a sense of hope that this was the end of the case, as far as she was concerned.' One of the last times Leo spoke to Rose in early 2003, when he believes her mask slipped because she subtly 'confessed' to her crimes, by acknowledging she would never be released. She told him she no longer wished to appeal her convictions, leading him to ask: 'Does this mean you're admitting it?' Leo continued: 'She said, 'No, I just don't think there'll be any life for me outside and I'm going to get on with my life in prison,' which sounded like a strange thing to say to me. 'I wasn't happy with that. I took it as a tacit admission yet she never admitted murder to me.' Locked up with other lifers, in HMP Durham, Rose was able to keep her head down in prison and enjoy a quiet life but Leo says she had been targeted in an arson attack. "Rose was on a female wing with lots of other women serving long sentences, women who just wanted to get on and have some peace and quiet, even though they'd been convicted of some serious offences," says Leo. "About two years after her conviction, in the late nineties, they had women serving shorter sentences coming into the wing. "Rose was never scared of these women but she wanted her space and to get on with her life. Someone tried to set light to her cell and that was a total disruption for her. "That was her home so to be moved out of her cell she found distressing." He also reveals the last time he acted on her behalf was when she asked him to write to the prison governor over sewing and cooking classes that had been withdrawn. It's believed Rose - who is now in HMP New Hall in Yorkshire - could shed more light on the crimes that took place at the 'House of Horrors' but the killer refuses to assist police. Read more on the Irish Sun Leo says: 'Now she has, I believe, neatly compartmentalised her life and is wanting to see out her days in peace. There's no doubt she'll go to the grave with many secrets.' Leo Goatley's book,
Scottish Sun
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
I looked in evil serial killer Rose West's eyes & told her Fred had killed himself – her reaction was terrifying
MONSTER murderess Rose West barely flinched when she was told husband Fred had killed himself. But there was a terrifying 'glint' in her eye when she heard he had taken his own life while in prison awaiting trial in 1995. 7 The police mugshot of killer Rose West after she was convicted in 1995 Credit: PA:Press Association 7 Ex-prison governor Vanessa Frake-Harris Credit: Times Newspapers Ltd 7 Monster Rose at home with husband Fred, who took his own life in January 1995 while awaiting trial Prison governor Vanessa Frake-Harris, who broke the news to the female serial killer, thinks Rose believed Fred's death would mean she could pin their gruesome crimes entirely on him. She said: 'I told her along with the duty governor that Fred had committed suicide, and there was no emotion. She blinked a couple of times and then said, 'Oh right'. 'She didn't even flinch — nothing had altered in her expression. No tears, no nothing — just that glazed stare. The level of control and dissociation was staggering. 'I firmly believe she felt that with Fred dying, she would get off all of the charges. 'There was almost a glint in her eye as if to say, 'OK, he's dead — he can take the rap for it. I'm happy to plead to the lesser charges'. 'Fortunately for all the victims and survivors, she was convicted.' Now three-part Netflix docuseries Fred And Rose West: A British Horror Story is re-examining their case. The couple's crimes are some of the most horrific in criminal history. They raped, tortured and murdered at least 12 women before burying the bodies beneath the patio and cellar of their home at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, between 1973 and 1987. Vanessa reveals that West was a manipulative and dominant prisoner at Holloway Prison in North London, ahead of her trial. Netflix's Fred & Rose West A British Horror Story launches 14 May 'Narcissistic psychopath' She was given ten life sentences at Winchester Crown Court in November 1995 for ten murders. And The Sun on Sunday can reveal that, now aged 71, her routine has barely changed in 30 years. Currently held at HMP New Hall, near Wakefield, West Yorks, she spends her days knitting, listening to The Archers on Radio 4, baking and feeding the birds. In an exclusive interview, Vanessa says: 'Rose was very compliant and charming. She did what she was told, when she was told to do it. She was no problem to the staff. 'But you always felt there was an underlying sense that she was full of her own importance. And I had no doubt she was guilty. 'Like a typical narcissistic psychopath, she is devoid of any kind of emotion — very manipulative, lacking in empathy, no remorse. 'She could be very charming to those in her circle — for us, that meant the prison staff — and willing to do whatever it took to appear totally different to the person she actually is.' Vanessa spent three months with the killer, who spent her days in large 'Coke-bottle glasses' while dressed in dowdy cardigans. The ex-jail boss says: 'We used to call her 'Auntie Rose' because she was just like the old auntie you'd pop round to see for tea and cakes, and because she had the big glasses and knitted all the time. 'She had this real sing-song way about her, saying 'Mor-ning' in a chirpy kind of way. She was never any bother. She just wanted to knit. 'At the time we didn't allow knitting needles in, but the governor made an exception because West was kept in the segregation unit. 'She was separated from the general population, not only for her safety but the safety of others. 7 From left: Therese Siegenthaler, 21; the couple's daughters Charmaine, 8, and Heather West, 16; Shirley Anne Robinson, 18; schoolgirl Shirley Hubbard, 15 Credit: Rex Features 7 From left: Lynda Gough, 19; Juanita Mott, 18; Lucy Partington, 21; Carole Ann Cooper, 15, and Alison Chambers, 16 Credit: Rex Features 7 Mary-Ann Mitchell, half-sister of victim Juanita Mott, in the new Netflix show Credit: Netflix 7 House of horror 25 Cromwell Street, where the couple's crimes took place Credit: SWNS 'Staff would give her wooden knitting needles — then collect them from her later — and she would always have multicoloured wool collected from the canteen every day. 'All day long she would knit. She never had any patterns and we never knew what she was knitting — it was just constant knitting. It was never anything in particular. She would stare into the distance while she did it, but you could tell that behind her glazed expression, a lot was going on. 'It was if her brain was busy. On what, I dread to think. 'She was constantly monitored as there was a risk of self-harm. And at the time she was allowed to wear her own clothes — very dowdy cardigans, blouses and trousers. 'She wore the standard-issue plastic shoes we called jellies. 'Her days were routine. She ate all her meals in her cell and did a bit of cleaning on the landing. 'In the afternoon she exercised by herself in a fenced-in yard and at 6pm we'd get her out of her cell to the communal room for an hour so she could watch TV.' At New Hall she has her own cell, with a shower, on a special unit called the Rivendell wing — for women with complex personality issues — and goes to church services conducted by the rural jail's chaplain. A second prison source says: 'She knits endlessly. She is quiet and doesn't cause any conflict. West will die in prison 'If you saw her, you could never think that she is a killer.' West was sent to New Hall in 2019. The source adds: 'She looks her age now — she is a pensioner. 'She is overweight, struggles with stairs and her eyesight is failing. 'She likes going to church but she has never shown any remorse.' Vanessa, who spent 16 years at HMP Holloway before moving to Wormwood Scrubs, eventually quit because she developed PTSD from dealing with violent cons. She says: 'I have no doubt West will be lording it up there now. 'She was a very dominant character with other prisoners but never over-dominant — always staying just below the line. 'She was a big woman so her stature gave her that dominance in the first place, but her manipulation and coercion of others was quite plain to see.' She is a very complex character. She has many facets and Rose West will do what Rose West wants when Rose West wants to do it Vanessa on West In 1997, Home Secretary Jack Straw imposed a whole life tariff — only the second time it had been used on a woman, after serial killer Myra Hindley in 1990. It means West will die in prison. Vanessa, who has written a book titled The Governor: My Life Inside Britain's Most Notorious Prisons, says of West: 'When she was sentenced in court, there was no emotion, and that's the typical trait of a psychopath. 'She is a very complex character. She has many facets and Rose West will do what Rose West wants when Rose West wants to do it.' During her service Vanessa also encountered Moors murderer Hindley, who had a relationship with West in Durham Prison, after she was asked to help in her transfer to a new jail. Hindley, along with Ian Brady, sexually assaulted and murdered at least five children in and around Manchester between 1963 and 1965. The former governor remembers that a 'manipulative' Hindley, who was 'legendary for getting staff wrapped around her finger', made her a cup of tea. Vanessa says: 'Hindley was a narcissist of the purest kind. 'She craved notoriety. She wanted to be feared and revered. 'She was the sort of person who would get a kick out of seeing my shock when she gave me the tea. 'Revel in her notoriety' 'She would have loved nothing more than to watch my eyes grow wide upon her return, and I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of thinking she had that effect on me.' Vanessa says she was not surprised that Hindley and West had a relationship. Gone are the days when we thought women were mad and not bad Vanessa She says: 'The power struggle there must have been intense because they were both truly evil women. Serial killers like West and Hindley gravitate towards each other because that is what they have in common.' She believes that West will love featuring in the new Netflix documentary — although it could bring her danger. Vanessa says: 'She will revel in it because of the notoriety, and love the fact that Netflix has done this series on her and Fred. But there could be concerns around her safety. A newcomer might see an opportunity to make a name for themselves. There's always one. And some women just love to kill. 'Gone are the days when we thought women were mad and not bad. 'There are bad women just as there are bad men.'
Scottish Sun
14-05-2025
- Scottish Sun
Smirking Fred West made sick joke as he revealed where bodies were hidden… he'd killed so many he had to number graves
UNDER the cover of darkness, serial killer Fred West was led by cops into the back garden of his home. Wearing welly boots and a quilted jacket, he cut an innocuous figure as he scuffed the ground and pointed nonchalantly to the spot where he had buried daughter Heather, 16, who had been missing for seven years. 15 The Wests hid dark secrets behind a veneer of normality 15 Fred West confessed all to police volunteer Janet Leach Credit: Netflix 15 Fred West pointed to where he'd buried his victims, while Janet watched on Credit: Netflix Police would go on to find another two bodies under the patio slabs and another six women in the cellar of 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester but, on that cold, rainy February night in 1994, only West knew what dark secrets lay beneath the ground. As he played cat-and-mouse with detectives he turned and winked at police volunteer Janet Leach - then later taunted her with the chilling truth, even cracking a sickening joke. In a never-before-seen interview shown in a new Netflix documentary about the killer couple, Janet said: 'It was really strange. "It was dark, it was raining and he was upset about the state of his garden more than anything. He just kept looking at me and winking as if it was some sort of game. 'When we got back (to the police station) I said to him, 'What did you mean, what were you looking at me for?' He said, 'Didn't you see that bone sticking out? It's just by the back door'.' Mum-of-five Janet was a trainee social worker who was working as a 'responsible adult' - volunteers who sit in on police interviews with vulnerable suspects - when she was drawn into West's evil world. He confessed to Janet how he killed so many women that he couldn't remember their names - and drew her a numbered map of where he had buried victims in his cellar. Over 10 months, the then 39-year-old spent more than 400 hours in a remand cell with West and, astonishingly, was often left alone with him. By June 1994 he had been charged with 12 murders and his wife Rose, with ten. West never faced justice after hanging himself in his prison cell at HMP Birmingham, aged 53 on New Year's Day 1995. In November 1995 Rose was found guilty of 10 murders, including that of eight-year-old stepdaughter Charmaine in 1971, and given a whole life tariff. Netflix's Fred & Rose West A British Horror Story launches 14 May The Netflix documentary - Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story, out today - also reveals how West confided in Janet and shows the extent to which he played games with cops, slowly unveiling the wicked killings as more and more bodies were discovered. Janet sat in on West's first grilling with detectives when he told them: 'I never meant to hurt Heather at all. All I wanted to do was persuade her to stay at home. 'But by this time I had no control over me thoughts at all [sic]. There was a piece of electric flex, I believe it was 13 amp, and I picked it up and I thought, well I better make sure that she is dead, so I tied it around her neck 'I used a bread knife to dismember her.' Horrified by the gratuitous details, Janet said: 'I think I was in a state of shock. (I thought) 'What on earth are you actually doing here?' 15 Janet accompanied West during a search of his property Credit: Netflix 15 The sick couple in the early days of dating 15 Police dig for remains at Cromwell Street Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd 15 Janet was left so horrified by West's crimes that she suffered PTSD Credit: SWNS 'West said to me after, 'Will you come again tomorrow?' I said, 'I don't know about that,' and that's when the police said, 'Will you come tomorrow?' I should have really said no.' Even West's solicitor Howard Ogden was shocked by the matter-of-fact nature in which West detailed his daughter's murder. He tells the show: 'A man described murdering and dismembering his daughter but it wasn't with floods of tears and distress and anxiety. It was simply a black and white set of facts.' It was a pattern which continued with West showing not a shred of remorse. When we got back (to the police station) I said to him, 'What did you mean, what were you looking at me for?' He said, 'Didn't you see that bone sticking out? It's just by the back door' Janet Leach Janet was alongside West when he went with detectives to the dank cellar of his house - where he often made his 10 kids sleep - after drawing her a map of where his victims lay. She said: 'I had some paper and he drew a diagram of the cellar and numbered where each of the bodies were because he couldn't remember the names. He just numbered them. 'I just hated the man but couldn't afford to let any of my feelings come out because he seemed to see that and the trust wouldn't have been there. 'He said all the children slept down there. It was really dark and damp, the smell was awful, I just… I could smell it even when I went to sleep at night.' Why West turned on wife Rose By Grace Macaskill FRED West did everything he could not to implicate wife Rose in their despicable crimes - until she snubbed him in court. In previously unheard police interviews, West claimed he kept his wife 'pregnant' or 'with other men' while he killed innocent victims. He told detectives: 'I've been tempted over the years to tell Rose, I must admit, but I never did. 'One reason is that I didn't know how she would take it, what she'd do, whether she'd walk out on me, or what would happen. Whether she would think she was at risk. 'I mean, Rose might look a bit hard-faced and all that, but she is as soft as a kitten.' When cops quizzed West on an earlier comment he made about he and Rose being "as one", he remarked: "Well yeah, but there's a slight difference. A lot of difference between evil locking together and love." When the couple set eyes on each for the first time since their arrest at Gloucester Magistrates Court in June 1994, Fred gently touched his wife's shoulder but she blanked him. He turned on her within days, telling police: 'You know what Rose is doing now? Distancing herself from me. 'See I'm beginning to wonder, did Rose have any love for me at all or was I somebody there to use all the time. 'The reason I couldn't tell the truth (about the killings) is because I'm protecting somebody. I'm still protecting somebody. I can't say no plainer than that.' When asked if he was shielding Rose, he replied: 'I didn't do it on my own.' Leo Goatley, Rose's defence counsel during her initial arrest, told how she showed 'a look of glee' when told about her husband's suicide. He tells the Netflix documentary: 'I wasn't sure how Rose was going to feel. They were husband and wife and she loved him. 'I got to see Rose and she was calm, she was quiet. There was a tear in her eye, yet a slight look of glee in her face and, in her mind, (she maybe) thought she could well be off the hook.' The documentary, which features unseen footage and unheard interviews, shows the moment West returned to his previous home in Midland Street, Gloucester, and showed police where his young daughter Charmaine was hidden. Janet said: 'He was just looking around the back yard, (there was) just like, a crack right up the house, and there was a mark on the wall and he said, 'That's where Charmaine was,' in the middle of the foundations.' West's lawyer Ogden said West was like two different characters as he paid a visit to the cellar. 'It was really strange,' he said. 'He talked like everything was so matter-of-fact. Then he'd get a bit upset, then compose himself - it was like two different people. He talked like everything was so matter-of-fact. Then he'd get a bit upset, then compose himself - it was like two different people Howard Ogden 'He marked the floors where the bodies were, which had been drawn on (his) diagram and quite near to the chimney breast.' West's crime had such an impact on Janet that she suffered a stroke during Rose's trial. She later sued police, claiming she suffered from post-traumatic stress, but the case was thrown out of court on a technicality. Janet's son Paul later told the Sun on Sunday how his mum 'fell under West's spell' and was devastated when he was discovered dead in his cell. Hidden microphones 15 Pictures of the Wests' victims - Ann McFall, Catherine 'Rena' Costello, Charmaine West, Lynda Gough, Carole Ann Cooper, Lucy Partington, Therese Siegenthaler, Shirley Hubbard, Juanita Mott, Shirley Anne Robinson, Alison Chambers and Heather West 15 Inside the cellar of the house of horrors Credit: SWNS:South West News Service Paul, who was 18 when West killed himself, said: 'I've never seen a woman so heartbroken. She was hysterical, screaming and crying her eyes out, an absolute mess.' Between them Fred and Rose West, now 71, raped, tortured and killed 12 women and girls between 1967 and 1987, including his first wife Catherine Costello, who he married in 1962. As the couple's bloodlust grew they sought out vulnerable women, who had very often been in care, to stay at their house. They also enticed young women into their car, with Rose's presence in the front seat used as a way to make them feel safe. The victims were taken to Cromwell Street where they were bound, gagged, sexually assaulted and murdered. He couldn't remember the names. He just numbered them Police volunteer Janet Leach Yet neighbours had no idea what went on behind closed doors. Ex neighbour Elizabeth Aguis said Rose once told her about her life as a prostitute and 'went into details that she had microphones or something in the bedroom'. She added: 'Fred was on the opposite side of the room because he liked to listen to things like that. But it was their life, and it was up to them to do whatever turned them on. I never took much notice really.' Elizabeth, who lived near the couple on Midland Street, Gloucester, was later called as a witness against Rose after she told her she liked to go out at night with Fred to pick up hitchhikers. 'I escaped Fred West' 15 Caroline Owens is the only victim to have escaped the pair Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd The West's ex-nanny Caroline Owens was the only victim to escape the couple. She fled Cromwell Street as a 16-year-old in January 1972 after they asked her to 'join their sex circle' but weeks later the Wests spotted her on the street and offered to give her a lift. Talking in old footage, Caroline said: 'They put a gag in my mouth, tied my hands behind my back and put a blindfold on me. Then they put me on to this mattress on the floor and that's when the sexual assaults started. 'In the early hours of the morning all of that stopped. Fred grabbed me by my throat, lifted me up, shouting at me, telling me 'When I'm finished with you I'll kill you, bury you under the paving stones'.' Caroline went to the police but could not face the trauma of giving evidence and, unbelievably, the couple were fined just £50 for the attack. The pair's former lodger Hayne Hamer, who was just 16 when she moved in in 1976, tells documentary makers how she forged a bond with 18-year-old Shirley Robinson, who was also staying at the house. The West's victims Most of the sick couple's victims were lodgers or women they picked up while hitchhiking Anna McFall The nanny of Fred and Rena West's children, McFall was believed to have been murdered in 1967. She was pregnant when she died, with West believed to have been the father. Her body was found in June 1994 in a shallow grave. Fred West denied murdering McFall but he is said to have confided to a visitor after his arrest that he stabbed her following an argument. This happened before Rose West met him. Charmaine West With Fred in prison for the theft of car tyres and a vehicle tax disc, Rose was left to look after Charmaine and Anne Marie. The former just eight-years-old, was Fred West's stepdaughter from his previous marriage. A neighbour Tracey is said to have found Charmaine tied to a wooden chair with her hands behind her back with Rose standing with a large wooden spoon. Rose claimed she'd been taken by her mother, but her skeleton was found at the Midland Road property, hidden and missing bones. Rena West Fred's first wife Rena is believed to have been murdered by strangulation. Rose was not charged for this murder. Lynda Gough Lynda Gough was the first sexually motivated killing conducted by the Wests. She moved into Cromwell Street in April 1973, having had affairs with several lodgers. The Wests later claimed she'd been asked to leave after hitting one of their children. Strangulation and suffocation were the likely causes of death. Carol Ann Cooper Cooper was murdered in November 1973, aged just 15. On the night of November 9, she was allowed to spend the night at her grandmother's house before a doctor's appointment the next morning. She attended the appointment and then met her boyfriend, before somehow ending up on Cromwell Street. Her body was found more than twenty years later. Lucy Partington A 21-year-old medieval English student at Exeter University, Lucy returned home for Christmas in December 1973. Lucy (pictured) left a friend's house in a rush to get the last bus from Cheltenham to Gretton on 27 December, with it believed she was abducted from this bus stop. She was found more twenty years later, her dismembered body in the cellar of Cromwell Street. Therese Siegenthaler A 21-year-old Swiss sociology student at Woolwich Polytechnic. She had planned to hitch-hike to Ireland in Easter 1974. Her family reported her missing having not heard from her for some time. Prosecution believe she was abducted before being killed, with Fred West later building a fake chimney over her grave. Shirley Hubbard Just 15 at the time of her death, Hubbard is believed to have been abducted by the Wests. Her body was found following an excavation in the concrete and plastic membrane of the cellar floor. Juanita Mott In the summer of 1974, Mott moved into 25 Cromwell Street but later went missing when she was living in Newent. Her body was found in March 1994, 19 years later, with West having concreted over the floor of the cellar. Shirley Robinson The first victim buried outside the house, Robinson had an affair with Fred West, and by autumn 1977, she was pregnant with his child. It was initially claimed she had moved to Scotland but her body was later found. When questioned, Rose West, herself pregnant with her daughter Tara at the time of the murder, claimed she did not remember her, which was described as 'ludicrous' by the prosecution. Alison Chambers The last murder with a sexual motive established. She disappeared just before her 17th birthday, having been seen at 25 Cromwell Street throughout the summer. Her body was buried underneath the patio. Heather West The first child born to Fred and Rose West, there is no evidence she was aware of the killings. Sexually abused by her parents and having told friends, she suddenly went missing in 1987, with her mum claiming she had gone to Wales to be with a lesbian partner. The couple would joke to their other children that they would 'end up under the patio like Heather' if they misbehaved. This, and their changing stories, led to the search warrants for the property, and subsequently to their arrests. Shirley confided to Hayne that she was pregnant with West's child. Hayne cries: 'Whenever I think of Shirley it hurts. She was there when I needed a friend and she should still be here now.' In police interviews, West tells police how he killed Shirley after they got into a row because he wouldn't run away with her to Bristol and wanted to stay with Rose. He is recorded saying: 'Shirley said, 'Well, I'm going down to tell Rose that this is yours' (the unborn baby). And I turned around and I just smacked her straight in the jaw and she went on the floor. 'I got a piece of flex and tied it around her neck.' The murder also saw the loss of Shirley and West's unborn child but - as ever - he showed no sympathy, calling her 'the girl who caused the problem'. Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story is available to stream on Netflix today. 15 Shirley was killed while pregnant with Fred West's baby Credit: PA:Press Association 15 The Wests' daughter Heather was 16 when she disappeared in 1987, though the Wests had never reported her missing 15 Police carry on their search for human remains in the garden of the Wests' Cromwell St home Credit: Getty Images 15 Eight of Fred and Rose West's victims were found buried in their home and garden
The Irish Sun
14-05-2025
- The Irish Sun
Smirking Fred West made sick joke as he revealed where bodies were hidden… he'd killed so many he had to number graves
UNDER the cover of darkness, serial killer Fred West was led by cops into the back garden of his home. Wearing welly boots and a quilted jacket, he cut an innocuous figure as he scuffed the ground and pointed nonchalantly to the spot where he had buried daughter 15 The Wests hid dark secrets behind a veneer of normality 15 Fred West confessed all to police volunteer Janet Leach Credit: Netflix 15 Fred West pointed to where he'd buried his victims, while Janet watched on Credit: Netflix Police would go on to find another two bodies under the patio slabs and another six women in the cellar of 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester but, on that cold, rainy February night in 1994, only West knew what As he played cat-and-mouse with detectives he turned and winked at police volunteer Janet Leach - then later taunted her with the chilling truth, even cracking a sickening joke. In a never-before-seen interview shown in a new Netflix documentary about the killer couple, Janet said: 'It was really strange. "It was dark, it was raining and he was upset about the state of his garden more than anything. He just kept looking at me and winking as if it was some sort of game. Read more on serial killers 'When we got back (to the police station) I said to him, 'What did you mean, what were you looking at me for?' He said, 'Didn't you see that bone sticking out? It's just by the back door'.' Mum-of-five Janet was a trainee social worker who was working as a 'responsible adult' - volunteers who sit in on police interviews with vulnerable suspects - when she was drawn into West's evil world. He confessed to Janet how he killed so many women that he couldn't remember their names - and drew her a numbered map of where he had buried victims in his cellar. Over 10 months, the then 39-year-old spent more than 400 hours in a remand cell with West and, astonishingly, was often left alone with him. Most read in The Sun By June 1994 he had been charged with 12 murders and his wife Rose, with ten. In November 1995 Rose was found guilty of 10 murders, including that of eight-year-old stepdaughter Charmaine in 1971, and Netflix's Fred & Rose West A British Horror Story launches 14 May The Netflix documentary - Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story, out today - also reveals how West confided in Janet and shows the extent to which he played games with cops, slowly unveiling the wicked killings as more and more bodies were discovered. Janet sat in on West's first grilling with detectives when he told them: 'I never meant to hurt Heather at all. All I wanted to do was persuade her to stay at home. 'But by this time I had no control over me thoughts at all [sic]. There was a piece of electric flex, I believe it was 13 amp, and I picked it up and I thought, well I better make sure that she is dead, so I tied it around her neck 'I used a bread knife to dismember her.' Horrified by the gratuitous details, Janet said: 'I think I was in a state of shock. (I thought) 'What on earth are you actually doing here?' 15 Janet accompanied West during a search of his property Credit: Netflix 15 The sick couple in the early days of dating 15 Police dig for remains at Cromwell Street Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd 15 Janet was left so horrified by West's crimes that she suffered PTSD Credit: SWNS 'West said to me after, 'Will you come again tomorrow?' I said, 'I don't know about that,' and that's when the police said, 'Will you come tomorrow?' I should have really said no.' Even West's solicitor Howard Ogden was shocked by the matter-of-fact nature in which West detailed his daughter's murder. He tells the show: 'A man described murdering and dismembering his daughter but it wasn't with floods of tears and distress and anxiety. It was simply a black and white set of facts.' It was a pattern which continued with West showing not a shred of remorse. When we got back (to the police station) I said to him, 'What did you mean, what were you looking at me for?' He said, 'Didn't you see that bone sticking out? It's just by the back door' Janet Leach Janet was alongside West when he went with detectives to the dank cellar of his house - where he often made his She said: 'I had some paper and he drew a diagram of the cellar and numbered where each of the bodies were because he couldn't remember the names. He just numbered them. 'I just hated the man but couldn't afford to let any of my feelings come out because he seemed to see that and the trust wouldn't have been there. 'He said all the children slept down there. It was really dark and damp, the smell was awful, I just… I could smell it even when I went to sleep at night.' Why West turned on wife Rose By Grace Macaskill FRED West did everything he could not to implicate wife Rose in their despicable crimes - until she snubbed him in court. In previously unheard police interviews, West claimed he kept his wife 'pregnant' or 'with other men' while he killed innocent victims. He told detectives: 'I've been tempted over the years to tell Rose, I must admit, but I never did. 'One reason is that I didn't know how she would take it, what she'd do, whether she'd walk out on me, or what would happen. Whether she would think she was at risk. 'I mean, Rose might look a bit hard-faced and all that, but she is as soft as a kitten.' When cops quizzed West on an earlier comment he made about he and Rose being "as one", he remarked: "Well yeah, but there's a slight difference. A lot of difference between evil locking together and love." When the couple set eyes on each for the first time since their arrest at Gloucester Magistrates Court in June 1994, Fred gently touched his wife's shoulder but she blanked him. He turned on her within days, telling police: 'You know what Rose is doing now? Distancing herself from me. 'See I'm beginning to wonder, did Rose have any love for me at all or was I somebody there to use all the time. 'The reason I couldn't tell the truth (about the killings) is because I'm protecting somebody. I'm still protecting somebody. I can't say no plainer than that.' When asked if he was shielding Rose, he replied: 'I didn't do it on my own.' Leo Goatley, Rose's defence counsel during her initial arrest, told how she showed 'a look of glee' when told about her husband's suicide. He tells the Netflix documentary: 'I wasn't sure how Rose was going to feel. They were husband and wife and she loved him. 'I got to see Rose and she was calm, she was quiet. There was a tear in her eye, yet a slight look of glee in her face and, in her mind, (she maybe) thought she could well be off the hook.' The documentary, which features unseen footage and unheard interviews, shows the moment West returned to his previous home in Midland Street, Gloucester, and showed police where his young daughter Charmaine was hidden. Janet said: 'He was just looking around the back yard, (there was) just like, a crack right up the house, and there was a mark on the wall and he said, 'That's where Charmaine was,' in the middle of the foundations.' West's lawyer Ogden said West was like two different characters as he paid a visit to the cellar. 'It was really strange,' he said. 'He talked like everything was so matter-of-fact. Then he'd get a bit upset, then compose himself - it was like two different people. He talked like everything was so matter-of-fact. Then he'd get a bit upset, then compose himself - it was like two different people Howard Ogden 'He marked the floors where the bodies were, which had been drawn on (his) diagram and quite near to the chimney breast.' West's crime had such an impact on Janet that she suffered a stroke during Rose's trial. She later sued police, claiming she suffered from post-traumatic stress, but the case was thrown out of court on a technicality. Janet's son Paul later told the Sun on Sunday how his mum 'fell under West's spell' and was devastated when he was discovered dead in his cell. Hidden microphones 15 Pictures of the Wests' victims - Ann McFall, Catherine 'Rena' Costello, Charmaine West, Lynda Gough, Carole Ann Cooper, Lucy Partington, Therese Siegenthaler, Shirley Hubbard, Juanita Mott, Shirley Anne Robinson, Alison Chambers and Heather West 15 Inside the cellar of the house of horrors Credit: SWNS:South West News Service Paul, who was 18 when West killed himself, said: 'I've never seen a woman so heartbroken. She was hysterical, screaming and crying her eyes out, an absolute mess.' Between them Fred and Rose West, now 71, raped, tortured and killed 12 women and girls between 1967 and 1987, including his first wife Catherine Costello, who he married in 1962. As the couple's bloodlust grew they sought out vulnerable women, who had very often been in care, to stay at their house. They also enticed young women into their car, with Rose's presence in the front seat used as a way to make them feel safe. The victims were taken to Cromwell Street where they were bound, gagged, sexually assaulted and murdered. He couldn't remember the names. He just numbered them Police volunteer Janet Leach Yet neighbours had no idea what went on behind closed doors. Ex neighbour Elizabeth Aguis said Rose once told her about her life as a prostitute and 'went into details that she had microphones or something in the bedroom'. She added: 'Fred was on the opposite side of the room because he liked to listen to things like that. But it was their life, and it was up to them to do whatever turned them on. I never took much notice really.' Elizabeth, who lived near the couple on Midland Street, Gloucester, was later called as a witness against Rose after she told her she liked to go out at night with Fred to pick up hitchhikers. 'I escaped Fred West' 15 Caroline Owens is the only victim to have escaped the pair Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd The West's ex-nanny Caroline Owens was the only victim to escape the couple. She fled Cromwell Street as a 16-year-old in January 1972 after they asked her to 'join their sex circle' but weeks later the Wests spotted her on the street and offered to give her a lift. Talking in old footage, Caroline said: 'They put a gag in my mouth, tied my hands behind my back and put a blindfold on me. Then they put me on to this mattress on the floor and that's when the sexual assaults started. 'In the early hours of the morning all of that stopped. Fred grabbed me by my throat, lifted me up, shouting at me, telling me 'When I'm finished with you I'll kill you, bury you under the paving stones'.' Caroline went to the police but could not face the trauma of giving evidence and, unbelievably, the couple were fined just £50 for the attack. The pair's former lodger Hayne Hamer, who was just 16 when she moved in in 1976, tells documentary makers how she forged a bond with 18-year-old Shirley Robinson, who was also staying at the house. The West's victims Most of the sick couple's victims were lodgers or women they picked up while hitchhiking Anna McFall The nanny of Fred and Rena West's children, McFall was believed to have been murdered in 1967. She was pregnant when she died, with West believed to have been the father. Her body was found in June 1994 in a shallow grave. Fred West denied murdering McFall but he is said to have confided to a visitor after his arrest that he stabbed her following an argument. This happened before Rose West met him. Charmaine West With Fred in prison for the theft of car tyres and a vehicle tax disc, Rose was left to look after Charmaine and Anne Marie. The former just eight-years-old, was Fred West's stepdaughter from his previous marriage. A neighbour Tracey is said to have found Charmaine tied to a wooden chair with her hands behind her back with Rose standing with a large wooden spoon. Rose claimed she'd been taken by her mother, but her skeleton was found at the Midland Road property, hidden and missing bones. Rena West Fred's first wife Rena is believed to have been murdered by strangulation. Rose was not charged for this murder. Lynda Gough Lynda Gough was the first sexually motivated killing conducted by the Wests. She moved into Cromwell Street in April 1973, having had affairs with several lodgers. The Wests later claimed she'd been asked to leave after hitting one of their children. Strangulation and suffocation were the likely causes of death. Carol Ann Cooper Cooper was murdered in November 1973, aged just 15. On the night of November 9, she was allowed to spend the night at her grandmother's house before a doctor's appointment the next morning. She attended the appointment and then met her boyfriend, before somehow ending up on Cromwell Street. Her body was found more than twenty years later. Lucy Partington A 21-year-old medieval English student at Exeter University, Lucy returned home for Christmas in December 1973. Lucy (pictured) left a friend's house in a rush to get the last bus from Cheltenham to Gretton on 27 December, with it believed she was abducted from this bus stop. She was found more twenty years later, her dismembered body in the cellar of Cromwell Street. Therese Siegenthaler A 21-year-old Swiss sociology student at Woolwich Polytechnic. She had planned to hitch-hike to Ireland in Easter 1974. Her family reported her missing having not heard from her for some time. Prosecution believe she was abducted before being killed, with Fred West later building a fake chimney over her grave. Shirley Hubbard Just 15 at the time of her death, Hubbard is believed to have been abducted by the Wests. Her body was found following an excavation in the concrete and plastic membrane of the cellar floor. Juanita Mott In the summer of 1974, Mott moved into 25 Cromwell Street but later went missing when she was living in Newent. Her body was found in March 1994, 19 years later, with West having concreted over the floor of the cellar. Shirley Robinson The first victim buried outside the house, Robinson had an affair with Fred West, and by autumn 1977, she was pregnant with his child. It was initially claimed she had moved to Scotland but her body was later found. When questioned, Rose West, herself pregnant with her daughter Tara at the time of the murder, claimed she did not remember her, which was described as 'ludicrous' by the prosecution. Alison Chambers The last murder with a sexual motive established. She disappeared just before her 17 th birthday, having been seen at 25 Cromwell Street throughout the summer. Her body was buried underneath the patio. Heather West The first child born to Fred and Rose West, there is no evidence she was aware of the killings. Sexually abused by her parents and having told friends, she suddenly went missing in 1987, with her mum claiming she had gone to Wales to be with a lesbian partner. The couple would joke to their other children that they would 'end up under the patio like Heather' if they misbehaved. This, and their changing stories, led to the search warrants for the property, and subsequently to their arrests. Shirley confided to Hayne that she was pregnant with West's child. Hayne cries: 'Whenever I think of Shirley it hurts. She was there when I needed a friend and she should still be here now.' In police interviews, West tells police how he killed Shirley after they got into a row because he wouldn't run away with her to Bristol and wanted to stay with Rose. He is recorded saying: 'Shirley said, 'Well, I'm going down to tell Rose that this is yours' (the unborn baby). And I turned around and I just smacked her straight in the jaw and she went on the floor. 'I got a piece of flex and tied it around her neck.' The murder also saw the loss of Shirley and West's unborn child but - as ever - he showed no sympathy, calling her 'the girl who caused the problem'. Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story is available to stream on Netflix today. 15 Shirley was killed while pregnant with Fred West's baby Credit: PA:Press Association 15 The Wests' daughter Heather was 16 when she disappeared in 1987, though the Wests had never reported her missing 15 Police carry on their search for human remains in the garden of the Wests' Cromwell St home Credit: Getty Images 15 Eight of Fred and Rose West's victims were found buried in their home and garden 15 Fred and Rose West raped, tortured and killed 12 women and girls between 1967 and 1987 Credit: Rex Features
