Hey guys!

This week’s post is a little bit different. This year, I made a promise to myself that I would read more. If you’ve seen my bookcase, you’ll see a vast number I have bought or been bought, and never got around to reading.

 

While I love fantasy like Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events, I am absolutely fascinated by true crime.

One case in particular has stunned, revolted, and intrigued people worldwide.

In February 1994, a suburban, semi-detached house in Gloucester, England belonging to Fred and Rose West came to the world’s attention when the bodies of nine young women were found buried underneath the house and garden. This all started when police and social services had become concerned about the welfare of the Wests’ daughter Heather, who had been missing since 1987. The Wests had eight other children, who upon being interviewed, revealed a family joke: that Heather was buried under the patio.

 

Eventually, three more bodies were found in different locations, bringing the total number of victims to 12. It soon became apparent Fred, a 52-year-old builder, and Rose, a 40-year-old prostitute were sexual sadists who had picked up and befriended young women in their car, many from lonely country bus stops, before taking them back to their house, subjecting them to disgusting sexual abuse before eventually killing them.

On New Year’s Day 1995, Fred West committed suicide while on remand in Birmingham. In November that year, his wife Rose was found guilty of ten murders, including that of her own daughter Heather, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

There have been many television documentaries, books and even a few films inspired by the Cromwell Street murders. However, one myth presented by all of these is that when Rose West went to jail for life, that was the end of the story.

 

In 2018, Rose’s eldest surviving daughter (Fred has another daughter Anne-Marie to his first wife Rena, who was also murdered), Mae West with Neil McKay published a book: Love as Always, Mum.

In her book, Mae gives her account of her horrific childhood at 25 Cromwell Street; the mental, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her mother Rose, and the sexual abuse she and her siblings experienced from their father Fred. Most heart-wrenching, Mae tells of the aftermath of the discovery of the bodies and the trial, as she suffers with survivor’s guilt, particularly over the murder of her sister Heather, and tries her best to live a normal life.

What strikes me is that when you read or watch the opinions of people who have studied this and other criminal cases, the summary is that they are “monsters”.

But for people like Mae and her siblings, this view is not so clear cut. While Fred may have confessed to raping, torturing, murdering and dismembering at least twelve young women, ten of which Rose was convicted, these “monsters” were Mae’s parents. Mae describes her father as having a dark, menacing side to his character, and a side which was jovial, friendly and funny. She also describes her mother as nurturing, caring and loyal, as well as sadistic and cruel.

 

While Rose is serving life imprisonment and Fred is six feet under, I have to wonder who is really being punished for their actions. In her book, Mae describes relocating a number of times through Gloucestershire; able to sustain few if any friendships and relationships because of her parents’ notoriety. Mae has even been turned down for bank loans and fired from jobs because of who she is.

Worse off were some of Mae’s siblings.

In 1992, two years before the grisly discoveries at 25 Cromwell Street, Mae’s 13-year-old sister Louise was lured into a bedroom and raped by her father, Fred.

After telling a friend, the police were informed and a full investigation into the Wests began.

Louise and the other younger West children were taken into care while the legal proceedings were underway. Although Louise and her siblings refused to testify in court, the trial collapsed and Fred and Rose were allowed home, the younger children remained in care.

According to Mae in her book, Louise was in several different foster homes for the next three years; all of whom were paid £300 a week to have her, and each of them made it clear that they did not want her there.

Eventually, Louise obtained a court order allowing her out of the care of social services, so she could live with Mae and her other sister Tara.

The only positive thing to come from Louise’s ordeal was that it drew attention to her sister Heather’s absence; eventually shedding light on the horrendous secrets at 25 Cromwell Street.

 

I would now like to turn my attention to Rose. In 1995, she was found guilty of the murders of the nine young women found at Cromwell Street, plus the murder of her 8-year-old stepdaughter Charmaine, whose remains were found at the Wests’ previous home in Gloucester. Check out the news footage from the day of her conviction below.

The judge stated, “If attention is paid to what I think, you will never be released.”

However, many questions remain, and much criticism has been directed at the prosecution and overall trial of Rosemary West.

First, every piece of evidence against her was circumstantial. Not one person could come forward and tell the jury that they saw Rose kill any one of the deceased victims. Every witness called forward by the prosecution, including Fred’s eldest surviving daughter Anne-Marie, described being exposed to some form of sadistic behaviour by Rose at some point in their lives.

Second, Rose to this day has made no admissions, and Fred even said in his confessions that Rose knew nothing about the murders.

The evidence against her at the time however small seemed damning. In the weeks following the disappearance of Lynda Gough, the first victim buried at Cromwell Street in 1973, Lynda’s mother came to the house looking for her. The door was answered by Rose, who at first said Lynda had never lived there. Mrs. Gough however noticed that Rose was wearing Lynda’s slippers and cardigan. When pressed, Rose admitted Lynda had lived there but had moved to Weston-super-Mare.

The next time Mrs. Gough heard of her daughter was when she was finally exhumed from underneath the bathroom extension at 25 Cromwell Street in 1994.

 

Another piece of evidence came from Caroline Owens, who in 1972 at the age of 16 met the Wests when she was hitchhiking home. She accepted a job from them as a nanny for their children but left several weeks later after being openly propositioned by both Fred and Rose.

A month later when she was hitchhiking home from her boyfriend’s house, Caroline was abducted by Fred and Rose and subjected to a 12-hour ordeal of sexual abuse. Eventually, they let her go and she lied that she would stay silent about her ordeal and come back to live with them.

Caroline went to the police, and in January 1973, after refusing to give evidence for rape in court, Fred and Rose West pleaded guilty to indecent assault occasioning actual bodily harm. They were released with a £100 fine.

Lynda Gough was murdered in April 1973. Just how likely is it, after hearing Caroline Owens’ ordeal, that Fred acted alone? Caroline was able to give specific details of her sexual abuse; very similar to that of the deceased victims, many of which were carried out by Rose, herself.

 

However, the fact remains. A person who is cruel and sexually violates others is not automatically a murderer too. And after all this, no one can say that they saw Rose kill anyone.

This is something which continues to baffle poor Mae West to this day. Now a mother of two in her forties, Mae no longer speaks or writes to her mother. She tells of trying to press her mother for whatever information she can give surrounding the murdered girls, only to be shut down and told how cruel and sadistic Fred had been to her throughout their marriage. This is a picture in stark contrast to the one Mae remembers from her childhood; a woman who physically, mentally and emotionally abused her own children, and showed complete indifference to her husband’s sexual advances towards his daughters. Over the years, Mae has finally realised that despite how many times Rose has professed to love her, she will never love her enough to tell her the truth of what happened.

 

I read in December last year that Rose, now incarcerated in Durham prison is planning to launch an appeal this year.

This has aroused my curiosity, because the legal system is only supposed to convict when an offence is proven beyond all reasonable doubt.

But I ask, was it really proven beyond all reasonable doubt that Rose West murdered ten women and girls?

 

I hope you enjoyed my first Word on Books! I’m planning to expand my book repertoire this year, so keep following A Word From Brett!

 

Until next time,

xoxo Brett