During their long relationship, the Wests murdered a series of young women, burying the remains of nine victims under their home at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, including those of their daughter. What was left of Fred West's eight-year-old stepdaughter was dug up from under the Wests' previous Gloucester home; his first wife and nanny were buried in open country. Most victims had been decapitated and dismembered, their remains showing signs of sexual torture. These twelve are just the ones police found when the Wests were arrested in 1994. There may be more whose bones have not been located . . . By 1957, Fred and his brother John frequently socialised at a youth club in nearby Ledbury, where his distinct and guttural Herefordshire accent marked him as a " country bumpkin". He aggressively pestered women and girls, whom he objectified as sources of pleasure to be used as he saw fit, and would abruptly approach and fondle them. [12] When a girl accepted his advances, she would find his sexual performance unsatisfying, as his primary objective was his own gratification. [13] Fred West killed himself in HMP Birmingham while on remand accused of murdering 12 girls and women in 1995, reports Gloucestershire Live.

At age 17, Fred suffered a fractured skull, a broken arm, and a broken leg in a motorcycle accident. He was unconscious for seven days and walked with braces for several months; [14] because of this incident, he developed an extreme fear of hospitals and became prone to fits of rage. Two years later, Fred suffered a further head injury when a girl he groped on a fire escape outside the Ledbury Youth Club punched him, sending him falling two floors. [15] The two-part crime drama television mini-series, Appropriate Adult, was screened in September 2011. Commissioned by ITV and directed by Julian Jarrold, Appropriate Adult concerns the role of Janet Leach, the woman asked by police to sit in interviews with Fred West as his appropriate adult. [265] [266]

Howard Sounes broke the first major story about the Wests as a journalist, and covered the murder trial of Rosemary West, before writing Fred & Rose, the definitive account of this infamous case. Beginning with Fred's and Rose's bizarre childhoods, Sounes charts their lives and crimes in forensic detail, creating a fascinating and truly frightening account of a marriage soaked in blood. The remains of Charmaine and Rena were cremated in Kettering. At the insistence of Anna Marie West, mother and daughter shared the same coffin, and no roses were to be brought to the service by any mourners. [243] That evening, having been formally charged with his daughter's murder and questioned as to why police had also discovered a third thigh bone, Fred confessed there were two further sets of human remains in his garden, and agreed to return to Cromwell Street to reveal the locations of both graves; one of whom he named as Shirley Robinson, whom he described as being a former tenant and a lesbian who had been heavily pregnant with his child at the time of her 1978 murder; [121] the other victim he described (incorrectly) as being "Shirley's mate", but either could not or would not elaborate as to her identity. Both sets of remains were discovered on 28 February, and Fred was charged with both murders two days later. [161]

On her 16th birthday, Rose left the home for troubled teenagers to return to her parents (Fred at the time serving a 30-day sentence for theft and unpaid fines). Upon Fred's release, Rose left her parents' home to move into the Cheltenham flat Fred then lived in. Shortly thereafter, Fred collected Charmaine and Anna Marie from social services. Bill Letts made one final effort to prevent his daughter from seeing Fred, and Rose was examined by a police surgeon in February 1970, who confirmed she was pregnant. In response, Rose was again placed into care, but was discharged on 6 March on the understanding she would terminate her pregnancy and return to her family. Instead, Rose opted to live with Fred, resulting in her father forbidding his daughter from ever again setting foot in his household. [56] June: Heather West, (16). Heather was likely to have been murdered because Fred and Rose considered her efforts to leave the household as a threat, as she divulged to her classmates the extensive physical and sexual abuse which occurred at Cromwell Street. [57] Fred claimed he had not intended to kill his daughter, but carpet fibres found on two lengths of rope, discovered with her remains, suggested that she had been restrained and subjected to a sexual assault prior to her murder. Her body was dismembered with a heavy serrated knife and later buried in a hole in the garden which Fred had his son dig, under the pretence of installing a fish pond. [210] The 1994 police investigation into Heather's disappearance led to the discovery of her body, and the arrest of both her parents.a b c "Step-daughter Charmaine was First to Die". The Independent. 22 November 1995 . Retrieved 17 November 2016. In retracing Fred's history, police also discovered that although Rena and Charmaine had disappeared in 1971, no missing person report had ever been filed on either of them. DC Savage and her colleagues were convinced Heather was dead, and that Fred's repeated statement to his children that her body lay beneath the family patio might be true. On 23 February 1994, Gloucester police successfully applied for a search warrant authorising the search of 25 Cromwell Street to locate Heather's remains. [153] The couple moved together to Gloucester at the beginning of the 1970s and so began more than a decade of sexual abuse and murder. Fred West's Son Jailed for Under-age Sex". The Telegraph. 3 December 2004. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 . Retrieved 12 February 2019.

Roberts, Caroline; Richards, Stephen (2012). The One That Got Away: My Life Living with Fred and Rose West. London: Metro Books. ISBN 978-1-857-82992-1.

Fred West 'Confessed to 20 More Killings' ". The Wahkiakum County Eagle. 14 November 1995 . Retrieved 23 October 2016. a b "Fred West Police Begin Cellar Search for Mary Bastholm". BBC News Online. 13 May 2021 . Retrieved 15 May 2021. Men Just Can't Handle the Fact that Fred and Rose West are my Mum and Dad". thefreelibrary.com. 4 September 2000 . Retrieved 5 December 2016. Grimshaw, Emma (11 May 2021). "Fred West's Links to Clean Plate Café Where Search Launched for 'Buried Body' ". Gloucestershire Live . Retrieved 12 May 2021. Clearly, this was not the behaviour of a normal 13-year-old girl – this was a girl who had been highly sexualised.