Inside 25 Cromwell St

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The final witness to testify at Rose's trial was Fred's appointed appropriate adult, Janet Leach, whom the prosecution had called to testify on 7 November in rebuttal to the tape recordings of Fred's confession which had been played to the court on 3 November and in which he had stressed Rose had "known nothing at all" about any of the murders. [191] Leach testified that through this role, Fred had gradually begun to view her as a confidante, and had confided in her that on the evening prior to his 25 February arrest, he and Rose had formed a pact whereby he would take full responsibility for all the murders, many of which he had privately described to her as being "some of Rose's mistakes". He had further divulged that Rose had indeed murdered Charmaine while he had been incarcerated, and had also murdered Shirley Robinson. Fred had also confided that he had dismembered the victims, and Rose had participated in the mutilation and dismemberment of Shirley Robinson, having personally removed Robinson's unborn child from her womb after her death. In reference to the remaining eight murders for which Rose was charged, Leach testified that Fred had confided Rose had "played a major part" in these murders. [192]

On her 16th birthday, Rose left the home for troubled teenagers to return to her parents (Fred at the time serving a 30-day sentence for theft and unpaid fines). Upon Fred's release, Rose left her parents' home to move into the Cheltenham flat Fred then lived in. Shortly thereafter, Fred collected Charmaine and Anna Marie from social services. Bill Letts made one final effort to prevent his daughter from seeing Fred, and Rose was examined by a police surgeon in February 1970, who confirmed she was pregnant. In response, Rose was again placed into care, but was discharged on 6 March on the understanding she would terminate her pregnancy and return to her family. Instead, Rose opted to live with Fred, resulting in her father forbidding his daughter from ever again setting foot in his household. [56] The final murder Fred and Rose are known to have committed with a definite sexual motive occurred on 5 August 1979. The victim was a 16-year-old named Alison Chambers, who had run away from a local children's home to become the Wests' live-in nanny in the middle of 1979. Chambers is believed to have lived within their household for several weeks before her murder, and Rose promised Chambers she could live at a rural "peaceful farm" she claimed she and her husband owned. [122] Her body was also buried in the garden of Cromwell Street, close to the bathroom wall, and although Chambers was likely dismembered, [123] her skeleton was not marked by striations as the earlier victims' bodies had been. In an effort to allay any concerns from Chambers' family (with whom she maintained regular correspondence), Fred and Rose later posted a letter, written by Chambers to her mother prior to her murder, from a Northamptonshire post box. [124] Abuse [ edit ] The West family, pictured in their Cromwell Street home on the date of Anna Marie West's January 1984 marriage. Heather, aged 13, is at the extreme right Fred and Rosemary 'Rose' West tortured and murdered a total of 12 young women and girls in Gloucestershire between 1967 and 1987Stephen West is also known to have made a suicide attempt in 2002, by attempting to hang himself. [246] In 2004, he was jailed for nine months for having unlawful sex with a 14-year-old girl on multiple occasions. [247] In May 1992, Fred asked his 13-year-old daughter, Louise, to bring some bottles to a room on the first floor of their home. Rose was not present in the home at the time. Shortly thereafter, the girl's siblings heard her scream, "No, don't!" Later, Fred returned downstairs. Louise was found by her siblings writhing in pain, sobbing that her father had raped and sodomised her, at one stage partially strangling her. [143] When Rose returned home, Louise confided in her mother that she had been raped by Fred; Rose replied, "Oh well. You were asking for it." Over the following weeks, Louise was raped on three further occasions, with Rose personally witnessing one of these rapes before following her distressed and bleeding daughter into the bathroom and asking the child, "Well, what did you expect?" [144] Fred also filmed one of these rapes. Several weeks later, Louise garnered the courage to confide in a close friend what her father had done; this friend told her own mother what had happened on 4 August. In response, the friend's mother anonymously informed the police. Masters, Brian (1996). She Must Have Known: Trial of Rosemary West. London: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-40650-5.

At pretrial proceedings in February, Rose pleaded not guilty to ten charges of murder (the murder of Charmaine West having been added to the original nine after Fred's suicide, and two counts of rape and indecent assault of young girls having been dropped with a view for later resubmission), though her counsel conceded that circumstantial evidence indicated Rose's willingness to subject young girls to sadistic physical and sexual abuse. [178] [179] Appropriate Adult ITV1 Review". The Telegraph. 5 September 2011. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 . Retrieved 20 June 2017. Shirley Hubbard, 15: One of the Wests' youngest victims, she disappeared on her way home from college in Droitwich. When her body was discovered, her head was completely covered in tape with a rubber tube placed in her mouth to allow her to breathe.The Young Mum who May Have Been Secret Victim of Serial Killer Fred West". The Birmingham Mail. 8 April 2018 . Retrieved 4 March 2021. To ensure her daughters' well-being, Rena frequently travelled to England to visit Charmaine and Anna Marie while they lived with Fred at Bishop's Cleeve. [37] Despite initially maintaining her friendship with McFall, Rena soon began to resent her matriarchal presence around her daughters. On 11 October, [40] in an act of resentment, Rena stole some belongings from Fred's caravan and returned to Glasgow. She was arrested the following month and returned to Gloucester to face trial. On 29 November, Rena was sentenced to three years' probation. Fred testified at the hearing, admitting he and McFall were living together, but falsely claiming McFall intended to return to Scotland imminently. [41] Immediately after this court appearance, Fred was re-arrested on suspicion of murdering Anne McFall, whose body had been found on 7 June but had not been officially identified until this date; he was formally charged with McFall's murder on 3 July, appearing in court the following morning. [172] Diversion of culpability [ edit ] Killed Another Twenty: Fred West Reveals". The Canberra Times. 15 November 1995 . Retrieved 1 July 2023. West Believed Suicide Would Save Rosemary". The Independent. 11 July 1996 . Retrieved 29 December 2016.

Woman Convicted of 3 Serial Killings". Ocala Star-Banner. 22 November 1995 . Retrieved 11 November 2016. November: Shirley Hubbard, (15). A foster child abducted from a Droitwich bus stop close to the River Severn as she travelled home from a date. [115] Aged 15 when murdered, Hubbard had been attending work experience in Worcester, and was last seen by her boyfriend, having promised to meet him the next day. Hubbard's dismembered remains were found in a section of the cellar known to the family as the " Marilyn Monroe area". [223] Her head had been completely covered in tape, with a one-eighth-of-an-inch diameter rubber tube inserted three inches into her nasal cavity to enable her to breathe. [115] The Wests' youngest son, Barry, took his own life via a suspected drug overdose in October 2020 at the age of 40. For several years prior to his death, he is known to have battled a drug addiction and psychiatric problems as a result of the abuse he witnessed and endured as a child. [262] Television [ edit ] The West children also divulged their mother had inflicted most of the physical abuse and that their father frequently said that if they told anyone about the goings-on in the household they would be "buried under the patio" like their sister Heather. [145] Investigation [ edit ]Heather's disappearance, Fred and Rose's constantly changing stories about their daughter's whereabouts, plus their allusions to foul play, ultimately led to police enquiries as to Heather's whereabouts. These enquiries culminated in a search warrant being issued to excavate the Wests' garden in February 1994. [141] [142] Arrest [ edit ]