Fred West: Difference between revisions
m Reverted good faith edits by 12.76.44.185; Rv that which is mentioned elsewhere. |
|||
Line 88: | Line 88: | ||
*[http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/west/index_1.html CourtTV Crime Library- Fred and Rosemary West] |
*[http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/west/index_1.html CourtTV Crime Library- Fred and Rosemary West] |
||
*[http://www.city-journal.org/html/6_2_oh_to_be.html A Horror Story by Theodore Dalrymple] |
*[http://www.city-journal.org/html/6_2_oh_to_be.html A Horror Story by Theodore Dalrymple] |
||
*http://www.murderuk.com/serial_rosemary_fred_west.html MurderUk - Fred & Rose - House of Horrors |
|||
{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Fred}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Fred}} |
Revision as of 15:26, 6 February 2008
Fred West | |
---|---|
Status | deceased |
Occupation(s) | Labourer, abattoir worker |
Spouse | Rosemary West |
Criminal charge | murder |
Penalty | committed suicide before trial |
Frederick Walter Stephen West (September 29, 1941 – January 1, 1995), best known as Fred West, was an English serial killer. Between 1967 and 1987, he and his wife Rosemary are believed to have tortured, raped and murdered at least 12 young women, many at the couple's home in Gloucester. Typically these women were lodgers and nannies who lived relatively transient lives and would not easily be missed, however their daughter Heather was among those murdered.
West committed suicide in his cell at Winson Green Prison while awaiting trial for murder.[1]
Biography
Early life
West was born in Much Marcle, Herefordshire, to Walter West and Daisy Hannah Hill, a poor family of farm workers.[2] He left school at the age of 15 and began work as a casual labourer. As a teenager he injured his head seriously in a motorcycle accident and also in a fall from a building's fire escape.[3]
West was a prolific petty criminal as a teenager. He moved from his parents' home to live with an aunt a hundred yards away until he moved to Gloucester, where he took a job in a slaughterhouse. He was fined for theft in Hereford in April 1961, and again in Newent in October.
During this period West worked as an ice cream van driver. On November 4, 1965, he accidentally ran over and killed a four-year-old boy with his ice-cream van.[4]
Marriage to Rosemary Letts
At age 20, Fred West was a convicted child molester and petty thief. In November 1962, West married his former girlfriend, Rena Costello, who was pregnant by an Asian bus driver. Her daughter Charmaine was born in 1963, and a year later Rena bore Fred a daughter called Anne-Marie. While still married to Rena Costello, West met his next wife Rosemary "Rose" Letts on November 29 1968; Rose's 15th birthday. In 1970, 17-year-old Rose gave birth to their daughter Heather. Fred West was imprisoned around this time and spent Christmas 1970 behind bars. After Heather’s birth, it appears that Rose killed Fred and Rena Costello’s daughter Charmaine, and Rena Costello was later killed by West. In January 1972, the couple married and in June that year, Rose gave birth to their daughter Mae.
During Rose and Fred's time together, a number of young women were killed, dismembered, and buried on their property. Their only known victim after 1979 was their daughter Heather, who was killed in June 1987 at the age of 16.
Investigation, arrest, and conviction
In May 1992, 51-year-old 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. The police 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 February 25 1994. After Fred's arrest, the police uncovered human bones.[5] West 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 March 4 1994, West admitted nine more murders, including his first wife and Ann McFall.
Fred and Rose West were brought before a magistrates court in Gloucester on June 30 1994; Fred was charged with 11 murders and Rosemary with 10. Immediately afterwards Fred West was re-arrested on suspicion of murdering Ann McFall, whose body was found on June 7 1994. On the evening of July 3 1994, he was charged with her murder. The following morning he was returned to Winson Green Prison, Birmingham, where he had been held for several weeks before the hearing.
On January 1 1995, Fred West committed suicide whilst on remand in his cell at Winson Green by hanging himself. His brief funeral was held in Coventry on March 29 1995. West was cremated with only three of his children 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.[6] 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 at 25 Cromwell Street, along with adjoining 23 Cromwell Street, was demolished and the site made into a pathway. Every brick was crushed and every timber was burnt to discourage souvenir hunters.
During questioning, 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 crime experts have spoken of their doubt that the 12 known victims were the only ones killed by the pair. This is mainly due to the fact that they were known to have killed 11 people between them in the first 12 years of their spree, but only one in the 14 years preceding their arrest.
In popular culture
- 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.
- Fred West is briefly mentioned in the Deathgrind band Gorerotted song "To Catch A Killer" on their album Only Tools and Corpses.
- The Apoptygma Berzerk album 7 contains a song called "25 Cromwell St."
- The crime served as a loose basis for the ninth episode of the fourth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, titled "Resilience."
- He was mentioned as a joke in an episode of Have I Got News for You where Paul Merton said "oh, have you met Fred West, oh, he does a beautiful Patio": a reference to where the bodies were hidden.
- 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.[7]
- In a 2003 Halloween edition of The Now Show on Radio 4, when the cast were suggesting up-to-date costumes for trick-or-treating, Fred and Rose West were among the names mentioned. Others included Osama bin Laden and Michael Howard.
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
- ^ "Fred and Rose West - Endgame" Crimelibrary.com Retrieved 13 July 2007
- ^ "Fred and Rose West - Fred" Crimelibrary.com Retrieved 13 July 2007
- ^ "The Biography Channel" The Biography Channel.com Retried 18 July 2007
- ^ "Fred and Rose West - First blood" Crimelibrary.com Retrieved 13 July 2007
- ^ "Fred and Rose West - House of Horrors" Crimelibrary.com Retrieved 13 July 2007
- ^ "Fred and Rose West - Endgame" Crimelibrary.com Retrieved 13 July 2007
- ^ "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
- THE WEST MURDERS: DMP (Transcripts of interviews of Fred West & other related people)
- MEDIA INFORMATION PACK (detailed report by police)
- CourtTV Crime Library- Fred and Rosemary West
- A Horror Story by Theodore Dalrymple
- http://www.murderuk.com/serial_rosemary_fred_west.html MurderUk - Fred & Rose - House of Horrors