Inside 25 Cromwell St

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In May 2021, police announced their intentions to excavate the grounds of a café in Gloucester after receiving information that the body of Mary Bastholm may have been buried at this location. This search yielded no human remains. [229] At the time of her disappearance, Bastholm worked at this café and Fred is known to have frequented the premises. [230] [231] Furthermore, he is known to have conducted repair work on the drains of this café in late 1967. [232] [n 7] In June 1961, [16] Fred's 13-year-old sister, Kitty, told her mother that Fred had been raping her since the previous December, and had impregnated her. Fred was arrested, and freely admitted to police he had been molesting young girls since his early teens and asked, "Doesn't everybody do it?" [17] He was tried on 9 November at Herefordshire Assizes. Though disgusted by her son's actions, Fred's mother had been prepared to testify in his defence. Immediately prior to her scheduled testimony, Kitty changed her mind and refused to testify [18] and the case collapsed. [19] Much of Fred's family effectively disowned him, [9] his mother banished him from the household, and he moved into the Much Marcle house of his aunt Violet. By mid-1962, he had reconciled with his parents, but not with most of his family. [20] Catherine "Rena" Costello [ edit ] Marriage [ edit ] 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] As police attempted to lead Fred from the hearing, he resisted their efforts, and again attempted to move towards Rose, who again winced and attempted to writhe away from his grasp. [171]

This case against the Wests collapsed when Anna Marie and her 13-year-old half-sister Louise declined to testify at the court case on 7 June 1993, with the child rape victim expressing her desire to return to her family, and Anna Marie choosing to withdraw her statement because of her noting the misery of her younger siblings, and her fear of Rose's vindictiveness. [150] Shortly thereafter, Anna Marie spoke further with DC Savage, further emphasising that her mother Rena and half-sister Charmaine were also missing. On 21 and 22 November, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts for all ten murders. [195] [196] Terming her crimes "appalling and depraved", [197] Mr Justice Mantell sentenced Rosemary to life in prison, emphasising that she should never be paroled. [198] Roberts, Caroline (2005). The Lost Girl: How I Triumphed Over Life at the Mercy of Fred and Rose West. London: Metro Books. ISBN 978-1-84358-088-1. Rosemary Feared Fred West: Mother". The Canberra Times. 11 October 1995 . Retrieved 24 November 2021.

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June: Heather West, (16). Heather was likely to have been murdered because Fred and Rose considered her efforts to leave the household as a threat, as she divulged to her classmates the extensive physical and sexual abuse which occurred at Cromwell Street. [57] Fred claimed he had not intended to kill his daughter, but carpet fibres found on two lengths of rope, discovered with her remains, suggested that she had been restrained and subjected to a sexual assault prior to her murder. Her body was dismembered with a heavy serrated knife and later buried in a hole in the garden which Fred had his son dig, under the pretence of installing a fish pond. [210] The 1994 police investigation into Heather's disappearance led to the discovery of her body, and the arrest of both her parents. Prosecution witnesses included Cromwell Street lodgers; victims' relatives; Rose's mother Daisy and sister Glenys; and surviving victims including Anna Marie West, Kathryn Halliday (a former lover of the Wests), Caroline Owens, and a "Miss A" (who had been sexually assaulted at 14 by Fred and Rose in 1977, and who described Rose as the more aggressive perpetrator of the two). [184] Neighbours described Charmaine's 1971 disappearance while Fred was imprisoned, and Rose's casual indifference to Heather's disappearance. [185] Victim's 'Blame' for the Deaths. Mother Tells of Her Hunt for Missing Daughter". Herald Scotland. 12 October 1995 . Retrieved 13 December 2016. Three months later, the couple vacated the Cheltenham flat and relocated to the ground floor flat of a two-story house in Midland Road, Gloucester. On 17 October 1970, Rose gave birth to their first child: a daughter they named Heather Ann (speculation remains that Heather may have been sired by Rose's own father). [57] Two months later, Fred was imprisoned for the theft of car tyres and a vehicle tax disc. [58] He remained imprisoned until 24 June 1971. As he served this six-and-a-half-month sentence, Rose, having just turned 17, looked after the three girls, with Charmaine and Anna Marie being told to refer to Rose as their mother. [59] West, Mae; West, Stephen (1995). Inside 25 Cromwell Street: The Terrifying, True Story of Life with Fred and Rose West. The Bath Press. ISBN 978-1-898-88514-6.

Sounes, Howard (1995). Fred and Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors. London: Warner Books. ISBN 978-0-7515-1322-6.Cawthorne, Nigel (2007). Serial Killers and Mass Murderers: Profiles of the World's Most Barbaric Criminals. Ulysses Press. ISBN 978-1-569-75578-5. Hospital records reveal Charmaine had received treatment for a severe puncture wound to her left ankle in the casualty unit of the Gloucester Royal Hospital on 28 March 1971. This incident was explained by Rose to have resulted from a household accident. [64] Murder of Charmaine West [ edit ] Bennett, John (2005). The Cromwell Street Murders: The Detective's Story. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 978-0-750-94273-7.

a b "Fred West Police Begin Cellar Search for Mary Bastholm". BBC News Online. 13 May 2021 . Retrieved 15 May 2021.Rose, who had begun to engage in prostitution by this time, explained to Owens that she worked as a masseuse when the younger woman enquired about the steady stream of men visiting her. [102] According to Owens, Fred also claimed to be skilled in performing abortions, should she ever need such a service. Owens also noted Fred talked about sex almost incessantly; her suspicions as to his sexual overtones were further heightened when Fred boasted that many of the women he claimed to have performed abortions upon were so overjoyed that they would offer him their sexual services as a reward. [102] When Owens herself became the recipient of the Wests' overt sexual advances, she announced her intentions to leave Cromwell Street and return home. [103] 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. One interesting aspect of the book is the way it portrays Fred West. As a reader, you get a sense of how manipulative and deceptive he was and how he managed to hide his monstrous actions from those around him. The authors also describe how the police investigation unfolded and how the Wests were eventually caught. This is an important part of the book and gives a much-needed sense of justice to the story. At age 17, Fred suffered a fractured skull, a broken arm, and a broken leg in a motorcycle accident. He was unconscious for seven days and walked with braces for several months; [14] because of this incident, he developed an extreme fear of hospitals and became prone to fits of rage. Two years later, Fred suffered a further head injury when a girl he groped on a fire escape outside the Ledbury Youth Club punched him, sending him falling two floors. [15]