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Revision as of 01:10, 17 July 2008 editJohn (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Rollbackers215,562 edits trim section; most of it was out of place in a serious article← Previous edit Revision as of 01:25, 17 July 2008 edit undoRodhullandemu (talk | contribs)115,150 editsm Reverted to revision 226146813 by John; Rv, better discussed on talk page; Peter Sutcliffe, Harold Shipman and Jack the Ripper all have similar sections.Next edit →
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{{Infobox Criminal {{Infobox Criminal
| subject_name = Fred West | subject_name = Fred West
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In October 1996, the Wests' house, along with the adjoining property, was demolished and the site made into a pathway. Every brick was crushed and every timber was burned to discourage souvenir hunters. In October 1996, the Wests' house, along with the adjoining property, was demolished and the site made into a pathway. Every brick was crushed and every timber was burned to discourage souvenir hunters.


==In popular culture==
⚫ In a 1998 interview with ], English novelist ] revealed that his cousin Lucy Partington, who disappeared in 1973, was a victim of Fred West and his wife.
{{Trivia|date=June 2008}}
*''Harold and Fred (They Make Ladies Dead)'' was a 2001 ] in '']'', also featuring serial killer ]. Extracts from the strip were subsequently merchandised as a coffee mug. '']'' also featured a spoof advertisement for 'Little Ted West,' a "collectors' item" teddy bear with the hair and clothes of Fred West, which came complete with a teddy-scale shovel.
⚫ *In a 1998 interview with ], English novelist ] revealed that his cousin Lucy Partington, who disappeared in 1973, was a victim of Fred West and his wife.
*In the '']'' episode "Croppity Crops", Johnny is planning on ] and compares himself to "that guy off the telly, from the '70s -- always in the garden, curly hair" (meaning Tom from '']''.) "Fred West?" says ]. "That's the one", replies Jonny.<ref>{{cite episode
| title = Croppity Crops
| episodelink =
| series = Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
| serieslink =
| airdate = 2006-04-02
| season = 6
| number = }}</ref>
*Norwegian futurepop group ] have a song on their album ''7'' based around Fred West and his suicide entitled ''25 Cromwell Street''.


==Further reading== ==Further reading==

Revision as of 01:25, 17 July 2008

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Fred West
Fred and Rosemary in the mid 1980s
Statusdeceased
Occupation(s)Labourer, abattoir worker
SpouseRosemary West
Criminal chargemurder
Penaltycommitted suicide before trial

Frederick Walter Stephen West (29 September 1941 – 1 January 1995), better known as Fred West, was an English serial killer.

Between 1967 and 1987, he and his wife Rosemary tortured, raped and murdered at least 12 young women, many at the couple's homes. The majority of the murders occurred between May 1973 and September 1979 at the couple's home in Gloucester. Rose also murdered West's daughter Charmaine while he was serving a prison sentence for theft.

Biography

Early life

Fred West was born in Bickerton Cottage, Much Marcle, Herefordshire, to Walter Stephen West and Daisy Hannah Hill, a poor family of farm workers. He was the first of their seven children (Walter had been married before, in 1937 at the age of 23 to Gertrude Maddocks, who died after being stung by a bee in 1939).

It is believed that incest was an accepted part of the West household, and that his father taught him bestiality from an early age. West recalled, in police interviews, that his father had said on many occasions "Do what you want, just don’t get caught doing it"..

At school, West did not excel, though he showed an aptitude for woodwork and artwork. He left school at the age of 15 in December 1956 and began work as a farm labourer. Two years later, in November 1958, he injured his head seriously in a motorcycle accident, which put him in a coma for eight days. He fractured his skull, and broke his arm and leg. His family said that, after the accident, West became prone to sudden fits of rage. Two years later, he was unconscious for 24 hours after hitting his head in a fall from a fire escape.

He was fined for theft in Hereford in April 1961, and again in Newent in October 1961. In the same year West's family kicked him out for sexually abusing a close family relative. Although a history of sexual abuse in Rose's family has been proven, it never was in Fred's. He moved from the family home to live with an aunt a hundred yards away until he moved to Gloucester, where he took a job in a slaughterhouse.

During this period West worked as an ice cream van driver in Glasgow. On November 4, 1965, he accidentally ran over and killed a four-year-old boy with his ice cream van.

Marriage to Rena Costello

In November 1962, the 21-year-old West married his former girlfriend, Rena Costello, who was pregnant by an Asian bus driver. Her daughter, Charmaine, was born in March 1963, and in July 1964 she bore West a daughter named Anne-Marie. They moved to Gloucestershire at the end of 1965, when West feared for his safety after the vehicular homicide incident. In August 1967 West murdered Ann McFall, his 18-year-old girlfriend, who was eight months pregnant with his child.

During the 1960s West and his family lived at a Caravan Park in rural Gloucestershire.

While still married to Rena Costello, West met his next wife, Rosemary "Rose" Letts, on 29 November 1968 (Rose's 15th birthday). On 17 October 1970, 17-year-old Rose gave birth to their daughter, Heather. Fred West was imprisoned for theft on 4 December 1970 until 24 June 1971.

Marriage to Rosemary Letts

After Heather's birth, and shortly before West's release, it appears that Rose killed his daughter with Rena Costello, Charmaine. Fred West killed Rena Costello in August 1971. On 29 January 1972, Fred and Rosemary West married in Gloucester, and on 1 June of that year, Rose gave birth to their daughter, Mae. Like Fred, Rose came from a family where incest was common; Even after the birth of her fourth child Rose's father, Bill Letts, with Fred's approval, would often visit the West's for sex with his daughter.

In December 1972 the Wests carried out a sexual assault on 17-year-old Caroline Roberts (then called Owens), and Fred West raped her. But she dropped that claim, and the following month the Wests were fined for assault, but not convicted.

Their only known victim after 1979 was their daughter, Heather, who was killed in June 1987 at the age of 16, though the police believe the couple murdered many more people. There were no recorded murders between 1975 and 1978, and 1979 and 1987 and then up to August 1992. During questioning after being arrested, Fred West had confessed to murdering up to 30 people, but the police have yet to name any more suspected victims, even though the police and several criminologists have voiced skepticism that the pair killed only 12 people.

Investigation, arrest, and conviction

In May 1992, West raped his 13-year-old daughter at Cromwell Street and filmed it, and then raped her twice afterwards. She discussed the incident with her brothers and sisters, who told friends at school. On 6 August 1992, the police decided to investigate, eventually leading to Fred West being charged with 12 counts of murder, with Rose as an accomplice. She was also charged with child cruelty, and the remaining children were placed in foster care. The rape case against the Wests collapsed when the two main witnesses declined to testify at the court case on June 7 1993. Police continued investigating the disappearance of their daughter Heather, six years earlier, however. After taking statements from social workers, about the joke about "Heather being buried under the patio" and the children themselves, they obtained a further search warrant in February 1994, allowing them to excavate the garden in search of Heather. They started searching the house and excavating the garden on 24 February 1994.

After West's arrest the following day, the police uncovered human bones. He confessed, retracted and then re-confessed to the murder of his daughter, denying that Rose was involved. Rose was not arrested until April 1994, initially on sex offences but later charged with murder. Further bodies were found and, on 4 March 1994, West admitted that he had carried out nine more murders, including those of his first wife and Ann McFall.

Fred and Rose West were brought before a magistrates court in Gloucester on 30 June 1994; he was charged with 11 murders and she with 10. Immediately afterwards, Fred West was re-arrested on suspicion of murdering Ann McFall, whose body was found on 7 June 1994. On the evening of 3 July 1994, he was charged with her murder.

On 1 January 1995, Fred West hanged himself while on remand in his cell at Winson Green. His funeral was held in Coventry on 29 March 1995. West was cremated with only three people present.

The evidence against Rose was circumstantial; unlike her husband, she did not confess. She was tried in October 1995 at Winchester Crown Court, found guilty of all 10 murders and sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial judge recommended that she should never be released, and 18 months later Home Secretary Jack Straw agreed with this recommendation.

In October 1996, the Wests' house, along with the adjoining property, was demolished and the site made into a pathway. Every brick was crushed and every timber was burned to discourage souvenir hunters.

In popular culture

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (June 2008)
  • Harold and Fred (They Make Ladies Dead) was a 2001 comic strip in Viz, also featuring serial killer Harold Shipman. Extracts from the strip were subsequently merchandised as a coffee mug. Viz also featured a spoof advertisement for 'Little Ted West,' a "collectors' item" teddy bear with the hair and clothes of Fred West, which came complete with a teddy-scale shovel.
  • In a 1998 interview with Charlie Rose, English novelist Martin Amis revealed that his cousin Lucy Partington, who disappeared in 1973, was a victim of Fred West and his wife.
  • In the Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps episode "Croppity Crops", Johnny is planning on self-sufficiency and compares himself to "that guy off the telly, from the '70s -- always in the garden, curly hair" (meaning Tom from The Good Life.) "Fred West?" says Kelly. "That's the one", replies Jonny.
  • Norwegian futurepop group Apoptygma Berzerk have a song on their album 7 based around Fred West and his suicide entitled 25 Cromwell Street.

Further reading

  • Bennett, John (2005). The Cromwell Street Murders: The Detective's Story. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0750942738.
  • Burn, Gordon (1998). Happy Like Murderers. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0571195466.
  • Masters, Brian (1996). She Must Have Known: Trial of Rosemary West. London: Doubleday. ISBN 0385406509.
  • Roberts, Caroline (2005). The Lost Girl: How I Triumphed Over Life at the Mercy of Fred and Rose West. London: Metro Books. ISBN 1843580888.
  • Sounes, Howard (1995). Fred and Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors. London: Warner Books. ISBN 0751513229.
  • Wansell, Geoffrey (1996). An Evil Love: The Life of Frederick West. London: Hodder Headline. ISBN 0747217602.
  • West, Anne Marie (1995). Out of the Shadows: Fred West's Daughter Tells Her Harrowing Story of Survival. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671719688.
  • Wilson, Colin (1998). The Corpse Garden. London: True Crime Library. ISBN 1874358249.

References

  1. Serial Murder and the Psychology of a Sexual Sadist: Frederick West New Criminologist Journal of Criminology
  2. "The Biography Channel" The Biography Channel.com Retried 18 July 2007
  3. "Fred and Rose West - First blood" Crimelibrary.com Retrieved 13 July 2007
  4. Euan Ferguson on the Legacy of Fred West The Guardian February 15, 2004
  5. "Surviving Fred and Rose". 24 February, 2004. Retrieved 2008-06-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. "Fred and Rose West - House of Horrors" Crimelibrary.com Retrieved 13 July 2007
  7. "Fred and Rose West - Endgame" Crimelibrary.com Retrieved 13 July 2007
  8. "Croppity Crops". Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. Season 6. 2006-04-02. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |episodelink= and |serieslink= (help)

External links

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