The House of Horror

A shabby semi-detached house at 25 Cromwell Street in the tranquil county of Gloucester in southwest England went down in English criminal history as the “House of Horror.” The house was purchased in 1972 by Rosemary and Frederick West, a couple known for being helpful and friendly neighbors. No one suspected that behind the respectable facade, horror itself was lurking. Fred and Rose were among the worst serial killers in criminal history; they had set up a soundproof torture chamber in the basement of their home in Gloucester, where they raped, tortured, and killed young women. They buried their bodies in the garden of the house. The murder spree would likely never have been uncovered if the burly Fred West hadn’t been arrested in 1992 after raping his own daughter, Louise. As a result, not only Fred but also his wife Rose came under the scrutiny of investigators, who conducted extensive house searches. These searches revealed something horrific. Investigators found not only the dismembered remains of Fred’s missing daughter, Heather Ann, but a total of 11 additional female body parts, whose remains bore signs of brutal torture. Some of the skulls were wrapped in plastic wrap; others were held together by rotting leather belts. But how could this hair-raising series of murders have come to pass? Frederick Walter Stephen West was born on September 29, 1941, in Much Marcle, England, as the second of eight children—six of whom survived—to farmhand Walter Stephen West and housewife Daisy Hannah Hill. Fred West and his siblings grew up in poverty. Allegedly, his father molested his sisters. He himself claimed to have been abused by his mother at the age of 12. According to Fred, abuse and rape were commonplace. There was no evidence to support this. Fred West was considered a mama’s boy and a notorious liar who was teased at school and was a poor student, which is why he left school without a diploma at the age of 15. Since then, he scraped by as a day laborer. He often rode aimlessly around on his motorcycle until, at age 17, he caused a serious accident of his own making. In the accident, he suffered a skull base fracture as well as broken arms and legs. After the accident, Fred’s personality changed. He became increasingly aggressive and suffered from outbursts of rage. Two years later, Fred suffered another severe head injury when he fell from the fire escape at the Ledbury Youth Club. He was in a coma for 24 hours afterward. In 1961, his 13-year-old sister Kitty accused him of raping her. A doctor friend of his attested that he suffered from epileptic seizures. Fred pleaded insanity, and his mother testified on his behalf at the Herefordshire Assizes. Kitty refused to testify. The case collapsed. Fred was subsequently banished from the house and moved in with his aunt Violet. In September 1962, Fred met Catherine Bernadette Costello, known as Rena, a con artist and prostitute known to the police. After a brief relationship, she returned to her native Scotland for a short time. When she reappeared with Fred shortly thereafter, he married her on November 17, 1962, in Ledbury. The relationship was marked by violence and infidelity from the start. In March 1963, Rena gave birth to her first child, Charmaine. The child was the result of an affair with an Asian bus driver. They lived in the aunt’s house. Shortly after the birth, they moved to Glasgow. The couple explained the child’s Asian heritage by claiming that their child had died of sudden infant death syndrome at birth and that they had since adopted a child. In July 1964, Rena gave birth to her second child, Anna Marie. While Rena lovingly cared for the children, Fred preferred to lock them up. Only when he was at work were they allowed to move freely around the house. Fred was extremely violent toward his wife and children. A true source of support for Rena was her nanny, Isa McNeill, through whom she also met 17-year-old Anna McFall, who from then on also helped care for the children. Anna became Fred’s mistress; Rena had already been having an affair with John McLachlan for some time. When Fred, who worked as a mobile ice cream vendor, ran over a child with his truck on November 4, 1965, the young family moved to Gloucester with the two nannies, where they lived in a trailer park. Fred found work as a truck driver for a local slaughterhouse. In early 1966, Fred began sexually abusing Charmaine and forced Rena into prostitution to supplement their income. Rena wanted to flee to Glasgow with her two children, with the help of her former lover, McLachlan. They hatched a plan, but Anna McFall betrayed them to Fred because she was in love with him and he had promised to marry her. The plan failed, and Rena returned to Glasgow without her children, whom she visited frequently. During one visit, Rena stole valuables from Fred, for which she was sentenced to three years’ probation on November 29, 1966. Anna McFall became pregnant by Fred. Shortly before the birth, Fred killed her in July 1967; Anna was just 18 years and 8 months old. He dismembered her body and buried it in a cornfield between Much Marcle and Kempley. In the meantime, Rena returned to Fred. But soon she left him again without taking her children with her. Then, in early 1969, Fred met 15-year-old Rosemary Lett. For him, it was love at first sight. Rosemary had brown hair cut in a pageboy style and large brown eyes. Her childhood was marked by violence and abuse. Her mother, a depressed nurse, was unable to protect her and her siblings from their schizophrenic father, who regularly mistreated and abused them all. Rose became Fred’s lover, completely devoted to him. She quit her job at the bakery and became the nanny for Charmaine and Anna Marie. Rose’s parents were against her relationship with Fred, which is why Rose was sent to a home for troubled teenagers. After Fred served a 30-day prison sentence for theft, Rose moved in with him despite all opposition. On October 17, 1970, their daughter Heather Ann was born. But ten months later, Fred had to serve another prison sentence for theft. During this time, Rose killed Charmaine, who was completely overwhelmed by the task of raising the children. When people asked about Charmaine, Rose told them she was living with her mother, Rena, in Bristol. Until Fred’s release on June 24, 1971, Rose kept Charmaine’s body in the coal cellar. Afterward, she buried Fred in the garden. On June 24, 1971, Fred was released from prison. When Rena suddenly appeared at Fred’s door and demanded to know where Charmaine was, he killed her. He dismembered her body and buried the body parts, packed in plastic bags, in a field 1.6 kilometers from Much Marcle. The path to his wedding with Rose was finally clear. On January 29, 1972, Fred married Rose, who gave birth to their second child, Mia Mae, on June 1. Shortly after the birth, Fred forced Rose to work as a prostitute. One of her clients was her own father. That same year, thanks to their landlord, they purchased the semi-detached house at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester. This became the new home of horror. By 1983, Rose had given birth to eight children, whom she regularly abused. They had been hospitalized 31 times for various injuries, but domestic violence was never suspected. Her eldest daughter, Heather Ann, died at the age of 16 from a skull fracture after Rose had repeatedly kicked her in the head. The basement of the semi-detached house became a torture chamber, filled with whips, canes, belts, ropes, handcuffs, and all manner of bondage equipment. There, in September 1972, in the presence of his wife Rose, Fred abused his own daughter Anna Marie, who was just 8 years old. But the abuse didn’t stop with Anna Marie. At the age of 13, she was also forced to sell herself to strangers. In October 1972, they hired 17-year-old Caroline Owens as a nanny. She was horrifically tortured in the basement for months and held captive in the house. The Wests gagged Caroline, then Fred raped her; afterward, Fred whipped her genitals with a leather belt, and then Rose licked her vagina. Rose was sex-obsessed and sadistic; beatings became a regular part of Caroline’s daily life. It was only after months that Owens was able to escape the ordeal. She told her mother everything, and her mother took her daughter to the police. On January 12, 1973, the case was heard in Gloucester. Since Owens was unwilling and unable to testify in court about her sexual abuse, all charges related to sexual abuse were dropped, and the Wests were sentenced only to a fine of 50 pounds each for assaulting Owens. Three months later, they began killing young women. Fred and Rose loved to dominate and torture young women. They lured their victims through newspaper ads seeking a nanny with room and board, or they simply approached young women on the street. Once the women were inside the house, they were tortured and raped. In May 1992, Fred raped their 13-year-old daughter Louise without Rose’s knowledge. Louise told Rose everything, but Rose did nothing. Louise then confided in a friend, whose mother informed the police via an anonymous call. Under the pretext of searching for stolen items, the police searched the house at 25 Cromwell Street on August 6, 1992, and seized 99 homemade pornographic videos. During the investigation, the dismembered bodies were found in the garden. For over 20 years, from 1967 to 1987, Rose and Fred West had raped, tortured, and killed 13 women. In 1994, Fred was charged with 12 counts of murder and Rose with 10 counts of murder. The key witness against the Wests was their former nanny, Caroline Owens, who had now found the courage to tell everything. Fred did not live to see the verdict, as he hanged himself in his prison cell on January 1, 1995. Rose was sentenced to life in prison; on September 1, 1997, she became engaged to Stephen Saliwon, a sex offender. The children were placed with foster parents. The horror house at 25 Cromwell Street was eventually demolished.