February 25th 2024.
On February 25, 1994, the nation was shocked by the arrest of married couple Fred and Rose West on suspicion of murder. It marked the beginning of a disturbing and grisly saga that continues to horrify us to this day. For 30 years, one detective had been determined to get to the bottom of the West family's dark secrets. He finally convinced his superiors to search their house at 25 Cromwell Street and dig up their garden.
The search began on February 24 and continued into the next day. Fred West, anxiously watching from an upstairs window, knew that they might uncover the remains of more young women than just his daughter, Heather, who had been missing for years. He nervously approached the officers and asked to go to the police station. Later that afternoon, he confessed to killing Heather and burying her under the patio by the back door. He was immediately arrested, and his wife Rose was also taken into custody an hour later.
The following day, February 26, Heather's remains were unearthed, along with another bone belonging to someone else. As the police continued to dig up the garden and dismantle parts of the house, they discovered more and more bodies. In total, nine were found at 25 Cromwell Street, earning it the infamous nickname "House of Horrors" in the news. The couple had committed unspeakable acts of torture, rape, and murder on an unknown number of women between 1967 and 1987.
But the horrors didn't end there. More remains were found at Fred's former home in Midland Road and in fields at Kempley, near the border with Herefordshire. The facade of normality that the Wests had projected for years was shattered, revealing a decades-long tale of sexual obsession, promiscuity, torture, and sadism.
Fred West was born into a family of farm workers in Much Marcle, Herefordshire, in 1941. He moved to Gloucester in 1962 and married Rosemary Letts ten years later, when she was only 18. This was his second marriage, and the two had been having an affair since she was just 15. West claimed that his mother had introduced him to sex at the young age of 12, and he believed in incest because his father had also had sexual relationships with Fred's sisters.
West's first marriage was to Catherine "Rena" Costello, who was pregnant with another man's child, named Charmaine, at the time. In May 1967, West's first known victim, 18-year-old Anne McFall, disappeared. She had been the nanny to Fred's children and had lived with him in his caravan. During one of his wife's absences, she became his lover and later became pregnant with his child. Her skeletal remains, along with those of her unborn baby, were found in a field at Kempley, near West's hometown of Much Marcle. Ms. Costello left West for the last time in 1969, and her remains were also found at a field in Kempley, near where Anne McFall was buried.
Rose West was born in Northam, Devon, in 1953, and was the fifth of seven children. After her parents separated, she lived with her mother before moving in with her father, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He was also prone to extreme violence and repeatedly sexually abused Rose and her sister. When she was just 18, she married Fred West. Her upbringing and the sexual abuse she suffered played a significant role in her descent into depravity, according to criminologist Dr. Jane Carter Woodrow.
Their first encounter at a bus stop was, as author Howard Sounes puts it, "the most dreadful accident waiting to happen." In his book, "The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors," he writes that when Rose met Fred, she was already familiar with abuse and cruelty and put little value on herself or her body. Their son, Steve West, believes that there was something wrong with both of his parents, resulting in a "lethal cocktail" when they were together. He adds that if they had not married each other, their actions may not have escalated to the extent that they did.
At 25 Cromwell Street, the couple committed horrific acts of torture, rape, and murder on an unknown number of women between 1967 and 1987. But they were also indulging in bizarre sexual practices with vulnerable young people that they befriended and lured into their home. Rose was known to work as a prostitute, and she would entertain men, often more than one at a time, in a room with a red light outside to warn her children to stay away. The Cromwell Street house became infamous as the place where unimaginable atrocities were committed, and the victims' remains were found buried in the garden.
On February 25, 1994, the nation was shocked when a married couple, Fred and Rose West, were arrested on suspicion of murder. This marked the beginning of a gruesome saga that continues to horrify people to this day. The arrest came about after a determined detective convinced senior officers to search the couple's home at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester. This was prompted by a disturbing family joke made by the Wests about their missing 16-year-old daughter, Heather, being buried under the patio.
The search began on February 24 and continued into the following afternoon. Fred West, who was anxiously watching from an upstairs window, knew that they may uncover more than just his daughter's remains. He approached the officers and asked to go to the police station. Later that day, he confessed to killing Heather and burying her under the patio by the back door. He was arrested on suspicion of her murder, as was his wife Rose an hour later. The following day, February 26, Heather's remains were uncovered, along with the remains of another person.
As the search continued, more and more bodies were found in the house and its surroundings. In total, nine bodies were discovered at 25 Cromwell Street, earning it the infamous nickname of the "House of Horrors". The Wests had committed unspeakable acts of torture, rape, and murder against an unknown number of women between 1967 and 1987.
The discoveries at 25 Cromwell Street shattered the facade of normality that the Wests had carefully crafted. It exposed a long history of sexual obsession, promiscuity, torture, and sadism. But who were Fred and Rose West? Fred, a builder, was born into a family of farm workers in 1941. He moved to Gloucester in 1962 and married Rosemary Letts in 1972, when she was only 18. This was his second marriage, as he had previously been married to Catherine "Rena" Costello, who was pregnant with another man's child at the time. Fred's first known victim was 18-year-old Anne McFall, who disappeared in 1967. Her remains, along with those of her unborn child, were found in a field near Fred's home village of Much Marcle.
Rose West, on the other hand, grew up in Northam, Devon, and was the fifth of seven children. Her upbringing was marred by her father's extreme violence and repeated sexual abuse towards her and her sister. When she met Fred at a bus stop, she was a vulnerable and impressionable young girl, already familiar with abuse and cruelty. Together, they became a terrifying and unique couple. Rose worked as a prostitute and entertained men in a room of their house known as "Rose's Room".
The couple's victims were young women who were lured into their home under the guise of friendship or employment. They were subjected to unimaginable horrors and were often killed. The Wests' crimes were finally exposed in 1994, when they were arrested and charged with numerous counts of murder. This shocking case continues to fascinate and horrify people to this day.
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