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Irish Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
'I'm pregnant - and my brother did it' Girl's horror confession about Fred West
Kitty West was merely 13 when she confided to her friends that she was expecting. However, it wasn't her boyfriend's child. It was Fred's. Her brother Fred's. This was the same Fred West who would later become one half of the most infamous serial killer duo in recent memory - a monster who sexually assaulted, murdered and mutilated young women for his own perverse pleasure, then dismembered their corpses. But long before he and Rose West gained notoriety for their House of Horrors at 25 Cromwell Street, Fred was already embarking on a very dark journey. Author, television producer and former Mirror journalist Howard Sounes was the first to report on the West murders for the Mirror in 1994 and subsequently became a leading authority on the case. He recently conducted numerous interviews and accessed over 100 hours of West's police interrogation recordings for his new book, The Fred West Tapes: Secrets of the Fred and Rose West Murder Investigation. Here, in Day Two of our exclusive serialisation, he unveils the forbidden family secrets that contributed to the creation of the beast. As a teenager, Fred West was regarded as one of the 'handsomest' lads around. He was seen as prime husband material in a rural area where many girls aimed to marry young for fear of being 'left on the shelf'. However, even from his earliest years, there was a darkness within him. One of his darkest childhood secrets was the tragic tale of his sister Kitty, who was six years his junior. Their parents Walter and Daisy West were impoverished, barely literate agricultural labourers who lived according to the seasons and could seem almost as simple as the livestock they cared for. They resided in the Herefordshire village of Much Marcle, merely thirty minutes' drive from Gloucester, yet a location frozen in time with an air of isolation. There were eight offspring, two of whom perished in early childhood, leaving: Fred, John, Daisy, Doug, Kitty and Gwen. "We were a very happy family ... Very close," Fred informed police during the murder inquiry in 1994, as disclosed in the fresh transcripts. "We all protected each other." Few who knew them - such as Kitty's school companion Jean Korbi - would concur with that assertion. In truth, Fred's mother wore a heavy leather strap which she employed to thrash her children, a practice Rose West subsequently embraced. His harsh mum also forbade romantic relationships until he reached 21, though his father provided contrasting guidance: "Whatever you enjoy, do. And make sure you don't get caught doing it, you know?" Fred's daughter Mae subsequently alleged: "He [Dad] said it was a father's right to break his daughters in. According to him, that is what his father had done." Fred West, aged 18, with sisters, Daisy, Gwen, Kitty and Doug. A year later, in 1961, Kitty told friends he was the father of her unborn baby. Kitty's schoolfriend Jean Korbi Speaking publicly for the first time regarding her companion Kitty, Jean discloses the day she discovered a horrific truth. "I'm pregnant," Kitty, then 13, declared to a circle of friends. They were unaware that Kitty had a romantic partner. "Oh, it's not a boyfriend, me brother did it. Fred." Fred, who was 19 at the time, was seen as quite a catch. "He was one of the handsomest," Jean reminisces. "He had a lovely smile, a nice wide smile, it lifted up his face. I had a schoolgirl crush on him." However, she was shocked to discover that this 'nice' lad had impregnated his younger sister. Jean had always thought the Wests were a bit peculiar, but this revelation was startling. "I mean she [Kitty] was a bit Dolly Dimple," Jean comments. "The whole family seemed a bit odd [but] I'd never heard of anything like incest, and then she proceeded to tell us how it was done, where it was done." Kitty confessed that she and Fred had been intimate in her bedroom, and it happened "lots of times". She admitted to being nervous initially. "'But Fred said because I'm his sister I wouldn't get pregnant'", Jean recalls Kitty saying. Her friends suggested that Kitty should have rebuffed Fred." She said, 'I wouldn't do that ... I quite like it', Jean adds. "She seemed quite nonchalant about it, 'It's normal, haven't you done it?' sort of thing." Jean has never forgotten that conversation, adding: "I remember it to this day, even where we were when she said it, because we were all in shock."" TV Producer Howard Sounes cover the case for the Mirror in 1994 and is Senior Producer of Netflix's Fred & Rose: A British Horror Story. His new book, serialised in the Mirror, features a never-before-seen photo of Fred West in prison on the cover. Howard Sounes covered the story for the Mirror in 1994 before becoming an author and TV producer (Image: Glynn Griffiths) The tale reached local constabulary, and in June 1961 a detective questioned Kitty and West. "Well, doesn't everyone do it?" West enquired of the officer. By the time West appeared before a magistrate, charged with incest, he entered a not guilty plea, Kitty declined to give evidence and West was acquitted. The consequences were devastating. Kitty was thrown out of school and underwent a termination. She never recovered and passed away in 2006, tormented by her history. Moreover, Fred discovered that he could perpetrate a sexual crime and escape punishment, even when police became aware. Soon afterwards, he started courting a 14 year old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons. Despite impregnating his own sibling, he remained well-regarded. "[Fred] was still liked," recalls Jean. "All the teenage girls, his age group, they were all drooling ... a lot of girls were after him." The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week When his new partner reached 15, Fred stopped whilst driving her home one evening and assaulted her. "He pushed me on the bank and raped me," the girl subsequently informed police. The girl felt stunned. "[I] just didn't know what to say." Shortly following this Fred violated her again, at a flat. However, she didn't inform police until the murder inquiry in 1994. Once again Fred slipped through the net without facing any consequences. His twenties would descend into even greater darkness. He became infatuated with Scottish teenager Catherine 'Rena' Costello, who was already expecting another man's baby, wed her, relocated to Glasgow, abandoned her to work as a prostitute to help pay the bills - and secured employment driving a Mr Whippy ice cream van. Fred and Kitty's parents, Walter and Daisy West. (Image: George Phillips) Walter and Daisy West took their children to Barry Island for a holiday in the late 50s. Front row: Kitty and Gwen (in buggy); middle row, from left: Doug, Daisy, Fred and John In 1965 he was doing his rounds when he struck and killed three year old Harry Feeney. His relatives remain convinced that it wasn't an accident as officers had concluded at the time. But whether deliberate or not, at merely 24, Fred had become a murderer, a rapist, and had nearly fathered his sister's child. Two years afterwards, his 18 year old lover Anne McFall vanished whilst eight months pregnant. Her remains - along with Fred's unborn child - wouldn't be discovered for 27 years. Yet again it could have ended there - but it didn't. It subsequently came to light that Fred had confessed to his father. He revealed to Walter that he had buried Anne's remains at the woodland's edge and even led him to the location. "I couldn't go up there on me own at that time," Fred later told his solicitor. "So he walked up there with me. He said, 'Look, son, I'm your father, I'm not going to turn you in. If you can live with it then I'll say nothing.'" Walter informed his wife Daisy, who subsequently revealed to his brother John: "Freddy's killed the girl [Anne] and buried her in Kempley Woods!" However, nobody contacted the police. Had they done so, Anne McFall might have been his sole victim. Instead, Fred stayed free. And encountered Rose. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Daily Mirror
'Girl, 13, said her brother made her pregnant - and thought it was normal'
Fred West was 19 when he got his own 13-year-old sister Kitty pregnant. Today schoolfriend Jean Korbi shares the most shocking part of the scandal: what they both said next KITTY West was just 13 when she confided in friends that she was pregnant. But it was not her boyfriend's. It was Fred's. Her brother Fred's. It was the same Fred West who would go on to become one half of the most notorious serial killer couple in recent history - a fiend who raped, killed and butchered young women for his own sexual kicks, then dismembered their bodies. But decade s before he and Rose West became infamous for their House of Horrors at 25 Cromwell Street, Fred was already heading down a very dark path...... Author, TV producer and former Mirror journalist Howard Sounes was first to cover the West murders for the Mirror in 1994 and went on to become a leading expert in the case. He recently conducted dozens of interviews and gained access to more than 100 hours of West's police interrogation recordings, for his new book, The Fred West Tapes: Secrets of the Fred & Rose West Murder Investigation. Here, in Day Two of our exclusive serialisation, he exposes the taboo family secrets that led to the making of the monster….. Adapted from The Fred West Tapes by Howard Sounes As a teenager Fred West was considered to be one of the 'handsomest' lads around. He was eyed as prime marriage material in a rural area where many girls aspired to marry young lest they be 'left on the shelf'. And yet, even from his earliest years there was a darkness within him. Foremost among his dark childhood secrets was the sad story of his sister Kitty, six years his junior. Their parents Walter and Daisy West were poor, semi-literate farm workers who lived by the seasons and could appear almost as ignorant as the beasts they tended. They lived in Herefordshire's village of Much Marcle, just half an hour by car from Gloucester, but a place lost in time with a sense of remoteness. There were eight children, two of whom died in infancy, leaving: Fred, John, Daisy, Doug, Kitty and Gwen. 'We were a very happy family ... Very close,' Fred told the police during the murder investigation in 1994, as revealed in the new transcripts. 'We all protected each other.' Few that knew them - like Kitty's schoolfriend Jean Korbi - would agree with that statement. In reality, Fred's mother wore a thick leather belt which she used to beat her children, a habit Rose West later adopted. His strict mum also banned girlfriends until he was 21, but his father offered different advice: 'Whatever you enjoy, do. And make sure you don't get caught doing it, you know?' Fred's daughter Mae later claimed: 'He [Dad] said it was a father's right to break his daughters in. According to him, that is what his father had done.' Speaking for the first time about her friend Kitty, Jean reveals the day she learned an awful secret. 'I'm pregnant,' Kitty, then 13, announced to a group of friends. They didn't know that Kitty had a boyfriend. 'Oh, it's not a boyfriend, me brother did it. Fred.' Fred, then 19, was eyed as quite the catch. 'He was one of the handsomest,' recalls Jean. 'He had a lovely smile, a nice wide smile, it lifted up his face. I had a schoolgirl crush on him..' But then she learned that same boy – that 'nice' boy – had made his younger sister pregnant. Jean thought the Wests a bit backward, but this was still a shock. 'I mean she [Kitty] was a bit Dolly Dimple,' says Jean. 'The whole family seemed a bit odd [but] I'd never heard of anything like incest, and then she proceeded to tell us how it was done, where it was done.' Kitty told them that she and Fred had sex in her bedroom, they did it 'lots of times'. She felt nervous at first. ''But Fred said because I'm his sister I wouldn't get pregnant'', Jean recalls her saying. Her friends suggested Kitty should have slapped Fred. 'She said, 'I wouldn't do that ... I quite like it', adds Jean. 'She seemed quite cool about it, 'It's normal, haven't you done it?' sort of thing.' Jean has never forgotten the conversation, adding: 'I remember it to this day, even where we were when she said it, because we were all in shock.' The story reached the local police, and in June 1961 a detective interviewed Kitty and West. 'Well, doesn't everyone do it?' West asked the officer. By the time West was brought before a judge, charged with incest, he pleaded not guilty, Kitty refused to testify and West walked free. The repercussions were significant. Kitty was expelled from school and had an abortion. She never got over it and died in 2006, haunted by her past. Also, Fred learned that he could commit a sexual offence and get away with it, even if the police became involved. Shortly after, he began dating a 14-year-old, who can't be named for legal reasons. Despite getting his own sister pregnant, he was still popular. '[ Fred ] was still liked,' says Jean. 'All the teenage girls, his age group, they were all drooling ... a lot of girls were after him.' When the new girlfriend turned 15, Fred pulled over while driving her home one day and attacked her. 'He pushed me on the bank and raped me,' the girl later told police. The girl felt numb. '[I] just didn't know what to say.' Not long after this Fred raped her for a second time, at a flat. But she didn't report the matter to the police until the murder investigation in 1994. Once more Fred escaped without repercussions. His 20s would only get darker still. He fell for Scottish teen Catherine 'Rena' Costello, already pregnant with another man's child, married her, went to Glasgow, left her to prostitute herself to help make ends meet - and got himself work driving a Mr Whippy ice cream van. In 1965 he was on his round when he ran over and killed three-year-old Harry Feeney. His family are still adamant that it was not an accident as police had believed at the time. But whether intentional or not, at just 24, Fred was now a killer, a rapist, and had almost fathered his sister's child. Two years later, his 18-year-old mistress Anne McFall, went missing while eight months pregnant. Her body - and the body of Fred's unborn baby - would not be found for 27 years. Once again it could have stopped there - but it didn't. It later emerged Fred confessed to his father. He told Walter he had buried Anne's body on the edge of the woods and even took him to the site. 'I couldn't go up there on me own at that time,' Fred later told his solicitor. "So he walked up there with me. He said, 'Look, son, I'm your father, I'm not going to turn you in. If you can live with it then I'll say nothing.'' Walter told his wife Daisy who then told his brother John: 'Freddy's killed the girl [Anne] and buried her in Kempley Woods!' No one however told the police. If they had, Anne McFall may have been his only victim. Instead, Fred remained at large. And then….he met Rose. Howard Sounes helped break the West story and coin the term 'House of Horrors' for the Mirror in 1994, becoming an expert on the story. He was also Senior Producer on the recent Netflix series, Fred & Rose West.
The Sun
4 days ago
- The Sun
Inside Fred & Rose West's sordid house of horrors where kids slept above dead bodies & were made to do the unthinkable
A FORGOTTEN interview with the son of evil serial killers Fred and Rose West has revealed the torture he suffered at the hands of his parents. This includes sleeping above the bodies of their victims buried under the cellar. 9 9 9 The previously unpublished accounts of Barry West give a harrowing insight into what it was like growing up in Britain's House of Horrors. Fred and Rose West between them committed at least 12 murders of girls and young women between 1967 and 1987 in Gloucestershire. In 1994 the couple were arrested and charged - with Fred taking his own life the following January in prison, while Rose was sentenced to 10 life terms with a whole life order. Journalist and author Howard Sounes has shared his unearthed interview with Barry, two years before he died of an overdose in 2020, aged 40, for the first time. 'My dad was a solid monster,' Barry told Sounes, reports The Mirror. 'But she [Rose] was a complete psycho. That's what people don't know: My mum was, child abuse-wise, the main person. "My mum was completely sick in the head. She beat me way more than my dad did, and enjoyed it, absolutely enjoyed it.' The West children were made to sleep in the cellar of the family's home in Cromwell Street, Gloucester, under which they buried many of their victims. Sometimes they were strapped to their beds - and Rose wore a the cellar keys around her neck like a prison guard. The evil mum would regularly snap and lash out - hitting and slapping, as well as stabbing and strangling her kids. Her weapon of choice was often a novelty giant wooden spoon, which she'd wield like a baseball bat. Barry told Sounes his nose is "on a slant" due to the amount of times Rose broke it, and has "massive scars" on the back of his head where he was struck over and over again. He went on to describe the "intense enjoyment" his mum got out of "beating the s*** out of me". Barry recalls how one Christmas Day he hid some sprouts in a tissue on the back of a chair, and when Rose found them days later she forced him to eat the rotting vegetables. He said she put her hand over his mouth and made him swallow his own sick. 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 eight-year-old Charmaine. A neighbour is said to have found Charmaine tied to a wooden chair with her hands behind her back with Rosemary standing with a large wooden spoon. Rosemary claimed she'd been taken by her mother Rena 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 to avoid an investigation into Charmaine's whereabouts. Rosemary was not charged for this murder. Lynda Gough Lynda Gough, 21, 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. She was allowed to spend the night at her grandmother's house before a doctor's appointment the next morning. But she somehow ending up on Cromwell Street and was killed by the couple. 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, and was abducted. 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, 19, 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 the 18-year-old 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 the 16-year-old 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 Fred's abuse of his other daughter - led to the search warrants for the property, and subsequently to their arrests. Barry and his brothers were forced to grow their hair long and wore their sisters' hand-me-downs to school - while their sisters were made to cut their hair short and wear boys' shoes. He said he and all his siblings had speech impediments growing up, a sign of child abuse. Barry would get his "face punched in" at school every day, but was scared to go home. He recalled how Fred would constantly talk about sex in front of his kids and about wanting to take his daughters' virginity, as well as the family tradition of incest, and sex with animals. 9 9 9 Fred's main ambition was to see Rose mounted by a bull. Barry said he was forced into sexual situations with his mum aged eight or nine. The kids were often forced to make phone bookings for "Mandy" - Rose's prostitute alias, and Barry was even offered as an extra for clients. A "giant man" became a regular who would rape Barry at the house. He said the children were even made to watch homemade porn featuring their mum and she kept different underwear in labelled jars for each client. There is a chance, according to some reports, that Fred was not Barry's biological father at all, and he was the product of an incestuous relationship between Rose and her own dad Bill Letts. He had allegedly abused her since she was a child, and regularly visited the Cromwell Street house, according to Rose's notes from prison. The Wests' murder victims were usually attacked and killed, then often dismembered in the family bathroom. Most of their children maintained they had no idea what was going on. How horror unfolded JANUARY 1968: Mary vanishes aged 15 while waiting for a bus to meet her boyfriend. FEBRUARY 1968: Scotland Yard detectives called in to investigate Mary's disappearance return to London with no sign of her. FEBRUARY 1994: Police search garden at Fred and Rose West's home, 25 Cromwell St, Gloucester, over their teenage daughter Heather's disappearance. Nine bodies are found and Fred West is charged with murder. Police are then informed of a potential link to Mary's disappearance and the café. APRIL 1994: Rose West is charged with murder. JANUARY 1995: Fred West kills himself in jail while awaiting trial for 12 murders. NOVEMBER 1995: Rose convicted of ten murders, including Fred's step-daughter from previous marriage Charmaine, pictured, who vanished aged eight. JANUARY 2012: Police reject a petition by Mary's friends to search café. MAY 2021: TV documentary makers find new evidence of Mary's remains at café. Police begin a dig at the scene. One child, who Sounes does not identify, however, claimed years later they were locked in a cupboard under the stairs and could hear shouting and screaming. When they came out, fresh concrete had been poured in the cellar, they claimed. Barry said the children didn't run away because they considered their dad "like God" who would "find you". His older sister Heather vanished aged 16 in 1987 after saying she wanted to leave the house - before later being found dismembered under the patio. It was a long-running family "joke" that Heather was buried in the garden which became a sick reality when police diggers later moved in. However, Barry recalled how he once tried to kill Fred with a screwdriver when he was 11, but his dad just laughed at him. But they did get some revenge on Rose by banding together as she came at them with the wooden spoon. It was when the police investigation had begun into the Wests had begun and just before the children were put into care. They piled on top of their mum and she hit them until she was "knackered" and then "broke down", with Barry saying it was the first time they "saw weakness". 9 9 9
Daily Record
4 days ago
- Daily Record
Life was hell after I stabbed my dad Fred West with a screwdriver - but it was mum I was scared of
WARNING - DISTRESSING CONTENT: Howard Sounes, the Mirror reporter who first broke the story of Fred and Rose West in 1994, has gained access to more than 100 hours of Fred West's unheard police interviews for his new book Few could be worse parents than Fred and Rose West. Their 16 year old daughter Heather was strangled, dismembered in the family bath (using a kitchen knife to avoid scratching the enamel) and buried beneath the patio. The remains of West's eight year old stepdaughter Charmaine were found under their previous residence, her body kneecapped and dissected. Two of West's pregnant lovers were discovered in unofficial graves, both just weeks away from full term. West's former wife Rena was found in a nearby field, while a runaway was buried under what used to be a paddling pool. Another woman was found beneath the bathroom floor and five more were discovered in the cellar - where the youngest West children slept. However, those who survived life at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester didn't consider themselves much luckier. Howard Sounes, an author who first reported on the West case for the Mirror in 1994, recently gained access to over 100 hours of previously unheard police interviews with Fred West. Now, in the first instalment of our serialisation of his new book The Fred West Tapes: Secrets of the Fred and Rose West Murder Investigation, he shares his chilling, previously unpublished interview with West's son Barry, revealing the true horrors of growing up in Britain's infamous House of Horrors...., reports the Mirror. Anna-Marie West was a mere eight years old when she was first raped by her father and stepmother. From then on, rape became a horrifyingly regular occurrence. She was bound to metal torture devices that her father, builder Fred West, constructed at work - all the while being told this was normal. Some of the West children were subjected to sexual abuse not only by Fred and Rose. On one occasion, a few were permitted to attend their parents' party - only to be molested by inebriated men, seemingly with their parents' approval, according to one child's account. Incest was ingrained in Fred's DNA, and child abuse was as commonplace as meals at 25 Cromwell Street. Strangely enough, it wasn't always their father who instilled the most fear amongst the West children. It was Rose. The mother and stepmother has consistently denied all accusations against her for three decades. However, in November 1995, she was convicted on 10 counts of murder committed between 1971 and 1987. During the trial, the court was presented with ample evidence of her perpetrating severe sexual and physical assaults on children. She subsequently became only the second woman - following Myra Hindley - to receive a Whole Life Order, ensuring she will never be released. Many of her children, like her son Barry, were handed a life sentence of their own - unable to recover from the trauma inflicted by the Wests. Barry grappled with mental health issues and drug use. Tragically, he passed away two years after recounting to me the full extent of the horrors endured within the House of Horrors. It is only now that I can share the details of that interview for the first time. Barry confided in me, saying: "My dad was a solid monster," and added about his mother, "But she [Rose] was a complete psycho. That's what people don't know: My mum was, child abuse-wise, the main person. My mum was completely sick in the head. She beat me way more than my dad did, and enjoyed it, absolutely enjoyed it." When the West children were young, they endured nights locked in the cellar, sometimes even strapped to their beds. Rose took on the role of jailer to her own children, with the keys to the cellar hanging around her neck. The slightest provocation would trigger Rose's violent outbursts, which included not just hitting and slapping but also stabbing and strangling her children. She even used a novelty giant wooden spoon as a weapon. Barry recounted the physical abuse he suffered, stating: "My nose is on a slant because of the amount of times she broke it," and "She would use [the spoon] as a baseball bat to beat us. I've got massive scars on the back of my head from the amount of times she split my head open with it. She broke my arm, all sorts of stuff. She had intense enjoyment in beating the s**t out of me... " These horrific acts form Barry's earliest memories. He shared further: "She was just as sick as him. Her moods didn't change. She used to hit us even on Christmas Day. She used to smack you straight in the mouth." One Christmas, Barry recounted a particularly unpleasant experience with his mother's brussel sprouts. "I put them in a tissue and then hid them in the back of a chair," he confessed. Days later, Rose discovered the decomposing vegetables. "She put them on the table, and she made me eat them," he continued. "[Then] she put her hand over my mouth and made me swallow my own sick. That's the sort of s**t I had growing up. I don't remember any present opening." Life at Cromwell Street was devoid of happiness for the children. Rose insisted on sending her daughters to school with cropped hair, dressed in boys' shoes for their durability. She would have them wash their hair with dish soap instead of shampoo and forbade the use of deodorant, leading to mockery from their peers. The West boys were not spared; they attended school in their sisters' cast-offs, allowing their hair to grow out. Many developed squints and speech impediments, often signs of child mistreatment. "When we was young, we all had speech impediments," Barry revealed, "I got my face punched in every day I went to school....[I was] scared to go to school, scared to go home." Home was no sanctuary, with both parents presenting a threat. The children once pooled their money to buy a £12 Zippo lighter for Father's Day, even having it engraved. "He threw it across the room," Barry remembered. "That was the kind of man he was." And that was only part of their ordeal. West incessantly discussed sexual matters in the presence of his children, expressing a desire to take his daughters' virginity, boasting about the family's history of incest, and even engaging in bestiality. His deranged aspiration was to witness his daughter Rose being copulated with by a bull. "[Dad] was such a disgusting man, he was vile," Barry confided. Fred West harboured intentions to sexually initiate his daughters, and Barry alleged that he was coerced into sexual acts with his own mother at the tender age of "eight or nine". The children were often tasked with managing phone appointments for 'Mandy', the pseudonym their mother used while working as a sex worker. It wasn't long before Barry found himself being presented to clients as an additional service. Barry recounted one particular incident where Rose, dressed in her nightgown, instructed him to accompany her to her bedroom. "She said, 'There's a man in here and I want you to do exactly what he tells you to do, no matter what'," Barry remembered. "[I] was just confused. I didn't know what she was talking about. I walk in and there was a giant man in front of me." That evening marked the beginning of Barry's ordeal; he was raped by a regular visitor who continued to abuse him and engage in sexual relations with Rose. The mother maintained a peculiar system for her clientele, storing individual pairs of underwear for each regular in separately labelled jars. Moreover, West demanded that all contraceptives be retained after use, with the twisted aim of "artificially inseminating" their offspring. Barry also disclosed that they were forced to watch homemade pornographic videos featuring their mother. Within the family, there were whispers that Barry might not have been West's biological son but rather a result of the incestuous relationship between Rose and her father, Bill Letts. It was alleged that Bill had been sexually abusing Rose since her childhood, and as per notes written by West while in prison, Bill was a frequent visitor to Cromwell Street. West claimed that one of his daughters once came downstairs and complained, "Grampy [is] going to sleep with me." He recounted that Rose's response was chilling: "He is not going to eat you, he is only going to f**k you. You'll probably love it." (Rose has consistently denied any wrongdoing, even after being convicted of multiple murders). In addition to the physical violence and sexual abuse, young women were lured to the house where they were assaulted and murdered, often dismembered by West in the family bathroom. The victims were found missing fingers, toes, and other body parts, which led a psychologist to speculate on a possible cannibalistic aspect to the crimes. Anna-Marie, the eldest surviving child, was nearly nine years old when Lynda Gough, aged 19, became the first victim of the Cromwell Street murders in 1973. Over the following six years, eight more women, including some lodgers, vanished without a trace. The remains of West's first wife Rena, his pregnant lover Anne McFall, and his stepdaughter Charmaine were buried at different locations. Most of the children insisted they were oblivious to the horrors unfolding around them. However, years on, one of the children (who shall remain unnamed) disclosed that there were instances when they were confined to a cupboard under the stairs, overhearing shouting and screaming. Upon emerging, they would notice fresh concrete in the cellar. "Why didn't we all run away?" pondered Barry, who subsequently endured a prolonged struggle with mental health issues. "I suppose that's the hold he had, the power. My dad was like God. You couldn't beat him. You couldn't run away. He would find you." Barry even considered murdering his father as a means to cease their suffering. "I tried stabbing him when I was eleven with a screwdriver. He just laughed at me," he recounted. The younger siblings did manage to exact some form of retribution against Rose. Barry alleged that just before they were taken into care amid the police investigation, Rose attacked them with a wooden spoon, prompting them to collectively retaliate. "I remember all my sisters jumping on top [of her], and we all sort of stood up [to her] and she was tired," he recalled. "She was knackered. She hit us until [she] couldn't hit us anymore. And that's when she broke down. And I saw the weakness of her, and she was crying her eyes out..." Generally speaking though, the youngsters understood not to misbehave - or breach the West family's code of silence. Barry's elder sister Heather served as their cautionary tale. She disappeared at 16 in 1987 after expressing her desire to escape the household. The kids were informed she'd relocated and severed all ties. Yet it evolved into a household 'gag': cross Fred and Rose, and you'd end up like Heather - beneath the patio, three slabs up and nine along. Barry subsequently revealed: "That was what was going to happen to all of us when we got old enough. If we didn't turn out like him, we was against him. And if we was against him, we would have to go in the garden – under the patio. He made us understand that." When that 'gag' reached police ears, the excavators arrived. And the Wests' decades of depravity would remain concealed no longer....
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Daily Mirror
'My serial killer dad Fred West was monster, but Mum did the unthinkable to us kids'
On the anniversary of Cromwell Street trial, Fred and Rose West's son reveals what it was really like growing up in the House of Horrors - and how he once tried to kill his father, only to get an unexpected reaction Few could make worse parents than Fred and Rose West. Their daughter Heather, 16, was strangled, dismembered in the family bath (with a kitchen knife so as not to scratch the enamel) and buried under the patio. West's eight-year-old stepdaughter Charmaine was discovered kneecapped and dissected under their previous home. And not one but two of West's pregnant mistresses were found in unofficial graves, both just a few weeks shy of being full term. West's ex-wife Rena was in a nearby field, a runaway was buried under what had been a paddling pool. Another woman was under the bathroom floor and five more were in the cellar - where the youngest West children slept. But those who survived life at Gloucester's 25 Cromwell Street did not count themselves that much luckier. Author Howard Sounes helped break the West story as a Mirror reporter in 1994, and as the leading expert on the case recently gained access to more than 100 hours of Fred West's unheard police interviews. Now in Day One of our serialisation of his new book The Fred West Tapes: Secrets of the Fred & Rose West Murder Investigation, he shares his harrowing previously-unpublished interview with West's son Barry, revealing what it was really like growing up in Britain's House of Horrors….. Anna-Marie West was just eight when her father and stepmum first raped her. Thereafter, rape became routine. She was strapped to metal torture contraptions that builder Fred West made at work - and told it was perfectly normal. Some, but not all, of the West children were used for sexual pleasure not only by Fred and Rose. Once a few of them were allowed to go to their parents' party - only, according to one child, to be molested by drunken men with their parents' encouragement. Incest was part of Fred's DNA, and child abuse was as routine as mealtimes at 25 Cromwell Street. But, bizarrely, it wasn't always their father who inspired the most fear amongst the West children. It was Rose. The mum and stepmum has denied all allegations against her for 30 years. But in November 1995, she was found guilty of 10 counts of murder between 1971 and 1987. During the trial, the court heard abundant evidence of her committing serious sexual and physical assaults against children. She later became only the second woman - after Myra Hindley - to be handed a Whole Life Order, meaning she'll never be freed. Many of her children, like her son Barry, received a life sentence of their own - never recovering from the trauma the Wests inflicted. He struggled with his mental health and had been used drugs. He sadly died two years after meeting me to describe the full horror of life inside the House of Horrors. It is only now I can share that interview for the first time. 'My dad was a solid monster,' Barry told me. 'But she [Rose] was a complete psycho. That's what people don't know: My mum was, child abuse-wise, the main person. My mum was completely sick in the head. She beat me way more than my dad did, and enjoyed it, absolutely enjoyed it.' When the West children were young they were made to sleep in the cellar, often locked in there at night, sometimes strapped to their beds. Rose was her children's gaoler, wearing the keys to the cellar around her neck. The slightest thing would set Rose off, and she would lash out violently: not just hitting and slapping but stabbing and strangling her children. She also hit them with a novelty giant wooden spoon. 'My nose is on a slant because of the amount of times she broke it,' Barry told me. 'She would use [the spoon] as a baseball bat to beat us. I've got massive scars on the back of my head from the amount of times she split my head open with it. She broke my arm, all sorta stuff. She had intense enjoyment in beating the s**t out of me… ' Sadly, these were Barry's earliest memories. He said: 'She was just as sick as him. Her moods didn't change. She used to hit us even on Christmas Day. She used to smack you straight in the mouth.' One Christmas, Barry made the mistake of not liking Mum's brussel sprouts. 'I put them in a tissue and then hid them in the back of a chair,' he said. Days later Rose found them, rotting away. 'She put them on the table, and she made me eat them,' he added. '[Then] she put her hand over my mouth and made me swallow my own sick. That's the sort of s**t I had growing up. I don't remember any present opening.' Childhood at Cromwell Street was simply joyless. Rose sent her girls to school with short hair, like boys, wearing boys' shoes because they lasted longer. She made her daughters clean their hair with washing-up liquid rather than shampoo and she didn't allow the purchase of deodorant, which the girls were teased about. The West boys went to school in their sisters' hand-me-downs, allowing their hair to grow long like girls. Many developed squints and speech defects, which can be indications of child abuse. 'When we was young, we all had speech impediments,' says Barry, 'I got my face punched in every day I went to school….[I was] scared to go to school, scared to go home.' It wasn't just Rose waiting for him at home. It was also his father. The children once clubbed together to buy him a £12 Zippo lighter for Father's Day. They even got it inscribed. 'He threw it across the room,' Barry recalled. 'That was the kind of man he was.' That wasn't the half of it. West spoke about sex constantly in front of the kids, about wanting to take his daughters' virginity, about the family tradition of incest, even sex with animals. His stated ambition – the very idea is insane – was to see Rose mounted by a bull. '[Dad] was such a disgusting man, he was vile,' Barry told me. Fred wanted to deflower his daughters, and Barry claimed he was forced into sexual situations with his mother at just 'eight or nine'. The children often had to take phone bookings for 'Mandy', their mum's alias when she was working as a prostitute. Barry started being offered up to clients as an extra, as such. According to him, one evening, Rose came downstairs in her nightdress and told Barry to follow her to her room. 'She said, 'There's a man in here and I want you to do exactly what he tells you to do, no matter what',' recalled Barry. '[I] was just confused. I didn't know what she was talking about. I walk in and there was a giant man in front of me.' The regular raped Barry. This was just the start. His abuser continued to visit the house to molest him and have sex with Rose. The mum had a dedicated pair of underwear for each regular, kept in separate labelled jars. West also insisted she kept all used contraceptives in order to "artificially inseminate' their children. Barry claimed they were even made to watch homemade porn featuring their mother. It was sometimes said within the family that Barry may not have been West's child at all, but the product of the incestuous relationship between Rose and her father, Bill Letts. Bill had allegedly been abusing Rose since she was a girl and, according to notes made in prison by West, was a regular visitor to Cromwell Street. West alleged one of his daughters once came downstairs complaining: 'Grampy [is] going to sleep with me.' According to West, Rose said: 'He is not going to eat you, he is only going to f**k you. You'll probably love it.' (Rose routinely denies all wrongdoing even after her murder convictions). Alongside the beatings and the abuse, young women were being brought to the house where they were attacked, murdered, often dismembered by West (in the family bathroom). All were found with fingers, toes and other body parts missing, leading one psychologist to suggest there could have been a cannibalistic element to the killings. The eldest surviving child Anna-Marie was coming up for nine when 19-year-old Lynda Gough was killed in 1973, the first of the nine Cromwell Street murders. Eight more women, some of them lodgers, disappeared over the next six years. The bodies of West's first wife Rena, pregnant mistress Anne McFall and stepdaughter Charmaine were buried elsewhere. Most of the children maintained they had no idea what was going on. Years later, however, one child (whom I won't identify) claimed that there were days when they were locked in a cupboard under the stairs while they heard shouting and screaming. When they came out they saw fresh concrete had been poured in the cellar. 'Why didn't we all run away?' Barry, who went on to suffer a long battle of psychological issues, asked me. 'I suppose that's the hold he had, the power. My dad was like God. You couldn't beat him. You couldn't run away. He would find you.' Barry contemplated killing his father to end their misery. "I tried stabbing him when I was eleven with a screwdriver. He just laughed at me," he claimed. The younger siblings did get some revenge on Rose, however. Just before they were taken into care during the police investigation, Barry claimed Rose came at them with the wooden spoon and they all joined forces to turn on her. "I remember all my sisters jumping on top [of her], and we all sort of stood up [to her] and she was tired," he claimed. "She was knackered. She hit us until [she] couldn't hit us anymore. And that's when she broke down. And I saw the weakness of her, and she was crying her eyes out..." On the whole however, the children knew not to step out of line - or break the West code of silence. Barry's older sister Heather was their warning. She vanished aged 16 in 1987 after saying she wanted to leave home. The children were told she'd moved away and cut contact, But it became a family 'joke': if you crossed Fred and Rose, you'd end up like Heather - under the patio, three paving stones up and nine across. Barry later said: 'That was what was going to happen to all of us when we got old enough. If we didn't turn out like him, we was against him. And if we was against him, we would have to go in the garden – under the patio. He made us understand that.' When that 'joke' reached the ears of police, the diggers moved in. And the Wests' decades of debasement would stay buried no more….
