2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Serial killer Rose West struggling to make friends with fellow inmates
She was asked to wear a bright yellow jumper in prison to highlight that she was at risk of attack from other inmates
Rose West has not had a visitor 'in years' as she serves a whole life term for murder. The serial killer has also been shunned by fellow inmates despite trying to make friends by baking cakes and treats for lifers behind bars.
Insiders have told how she always has a guard by her side when she moves around prison, including visits to the chapel to pray. Before she suffered from ill health, she even went on the treadmill at the prison gym in Low Newton jail in Co Durham, before her move to HMP New Hall near Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
"She has not had a visitor in years" according to one insider. She was asked to wear a bright yellow jumper behind bars to highlight that she was at risk from other prisoners, who would threaten to attack her and spit in her food. And she was nicknamed 'Baker Rose' or 'Ma Baker' when she was allowed to "bake cakes for fellow inmates."
Canoe woman Anne Darwin told in her memoir 'Out of My Depth' and how she was mistaken for the mass murderer when she served time for fraud alongside her in Low Newton jail.
She recalled: "I was on the treadmill when I became aware of someone getting onto the machine next to me, so I turned to say good morning.
"But as I looked round, there was the plump and rather squat figure of notorious serial killer Rose West, with the usual attendant officer close by, just a few feet from me.
"She didn't say anything, just stared straight ahead and carried on walking. I thought to myself, now there's a sight you don't see every day."
She added: "There was hatred among the inmates for people, like Rose, who'd been a part of such barbaric killings.
"Whenever she left her cell, a prison officer was always detailed to her for her own protection and, at least when she first arrived, she had to wear a bright yellow jumper or top to mark her out as a high-profile/ high-risk prisoner.
"She was known as 'Baker Rose', because one day a week she was allowed to bake cakes on the wing. I went to the chapel whenever there was a Catholic mass, which was always on a Saturday, and occasionally Rose would turn up with her officer in tow."
Rose West, now 71, was jailed for life in 1995 for murdering ten women and girls with husband Fred in Gloucester.
She calls herself Jennifer Jones after changing her name by deed poll in 2020, but everyone knows her real identity at the women-only HMP New Hall near Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
Her husband, who buried several of the victims at their home in Gloucester, escaped justice by killing himself on remand, aged 53.
The couple's horrendous crimes have come back into the spotlight after the release of new Netflix docuseries Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story.
She spent 11 years at Durham's Low Newton. It is believed she was moved on after fellow serial killer Joanna Dennehy made threats towards her.
Before that she was at HMP Bronzefield, in Ashford, Surrey. However a plot to attack her with a sock filled with pool balls was uncovered and she was moved
