Frederick West

Frederick Walter Stephen "Fred" West (born September 29, 1941 in Much Marcle , Herefordshire , † January 1, 1995 in HM Prison Birmingham ) and his wife Rosemary West were British serial killers . West confessed to twelve murders and his wife was found guilty of ten cases.

resume

Frederick West was born in 1941 as the second child to farm workers Walter Stephen West and Daisy Hannah. At school, West was teased as a mom's boy . His mother often sought confrontation with West's teachers when they reprimanded her favorite son.

Without a school leaving certificate, West left school at the age of 15 to work as a casual worker. Frederick West later reported that his father had committed incest with his sisters. However, there was no charge, as West's information could not be proven and he was considered a notorious liar. At the age of 17 he suffered a skull base fracture and a leg fracture in a motorcycle accident. He was in a coma for a week and the leg remained shortened. His relationship with Catherine Bernadette "Rena" Costello, whom he met after his recovery, did not last long, a few months later she moved back to her homeland in Scotland. "Rena" was known to the police since she was a child and was considered an experienced thief. After several minor offenses, Frederick West narrowly escaped charges of child molestation against a 13-year-old girl who was friends with the West family at the age of 20. A doctor attested West epileptic seizures . Because of his lack of insight, he broke up with his family.

1962-1964

In the summer of 1962 Catherine Bernadette Costello returned from Scotland and re-established a relationship with West. They secretly married in November of that year. Bernadette's first pregnancy, caused by an affair with an Asian bus driver, led to tension between West and his wife. Together they left Much Marcle and fled to Scotland. In order to justify the Asian ancestry of the child Charmaine, born in March 1963, to West's parents, West and his wife claimed that their biological child had died of sudden infanticide at birth and that they had adopted a child.

In 1964, Frederick's wife gave birth to a second child, Anna Marie. It was also around this time that West and his wife met Anna McFall, who would later become their first murder victim. West was working as a mobile ice cream seller at the time, but lost that job after running over and fatally injuring a toddler with his vending truck. With his wife, two children and Anna McFall, West moved from Much Marcle to Gloucester and found work in a slaughterhouse there. Whether the broken marriage wanted to move West's wife with the children to Glasgow, but since Frederick West did not allow this, his wife traveled back to Scotland without the children. West lived with and slept with Anna McFall, then 17, a friend of his wife's who volunteered to work as a nanny for him. Shortly before the birth of their child, West murdered his girlfriend and dismembered and buried her in a field within sight of the parents' house. Costello returned to him but did not stay long.

More murders

The following year, West split his time between different campsites and met Rosemary Letts. Also hired as a nanny, she became pregnant and gave birth to daughter Heather in 1970. In 1970 he spent a year in prison for various minor offenses. At that time his step-daughter Charmaine was violently killed, presumably by Letts. West in all likelihood dismembered the corpse after his release and cemented it into the floor. Later, the alcoholic Costello returned to Fred, who murdered her near his parents' property, dismembered her and buried her remains along with a children's boomerang. West married Letts in 1972, although he was still officially married to the murdered Rena. Rosemary Letts prostituted herself under the guidance of her husband and eventually gave birth to Mary, their second child.

With the help of their landlord, the West were able to acquire a run-down semi-detached house at 25 Cromwell Street, later well known as the "House of Horrors", on favorable terms. After the kidnapping, mistreatment and rape of the underage nanny Caroline Owens, she managed to escape using a trick. She was later one of the main witnesses in the murder trial. As Owens was initially ashamed, they both got away with a total fine of £ 100. In the meantime, a soundproof torture chamber was built in the basement , which was later used as a children's room. The West couple murdered Lynda Gough, Carol Ann Cooper and Lucy Partington in 1973. All of the corpses ended up in pieces of the house and property. A year later, the Swiss student Therese Siegenthaler and Shirley Hubbard were murdered, dismembered and walled up. Another year later, Juanita Mott experienced the same fate. The heavily pregnant Shirley Robinson and later Alison Chambers died in 1978 at the hands of West. Their daughter, Heather, was dismembered and buried in 1987.

Condemnation

In 1992 West raped the girl Luise and was then arrested. The series of murders went undetected for a long time. In 1993 the investigation was expanded and it was not until 1994 that Rose was arrested. In the course of the most extensive house search in the history of Great Britain, the walled-in, buried and burned body parts were gathered over the course of more than nine months. In 1994 Fred was charged with twelve murders and Rose with ten murders. Rumors of numerous other murders of missing girls during the period in question continued. On January 1, 1995, Fred West hanged himself and Rosemary was given a life sentence. Her seven other children who survived were given foster parents. Cruel torture practices came to light in the process. After the demolition of the house, which was completely riddled with forensic investigations, the entire building rubble was carefully chopped up and disposed of. The property was not rebuilt, but now serves as a green public path.

additional

One of the victims, Lucy Partington, was the cousin of the writer Martin Amis , who later dedicated one of his novels to her.

literature

• Gordon Burn: Happy Like Murderers. Faber and Faber, London 1998, ISBN 0-571-19546-6 .
• Brian Masters: She Must Have Known: Trial of Rosemary West. Corgi, London a. a. 1998, ISBN 0-552-54536-8 .
• Howerd Sounes: Fred & Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors. Warner Books, London 1995, ISBN 0-7515-1322-9 .
• Paul Britton: The profile of the murderer. The British criminal psychologist's spectacular method of success. Econ Verlag, Düsseldorf / Munich 2000, ISBN 3-612-26633-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Marilyn Bardsley: TruTV Crime Library. Fred & Rose West. In: TruTV. P. 2 , accessed on June 24, 2011 (English). 
2. ^ Marilyn Bardsley: TruTV Crime Library. Fred & Rose West. In: TruTV. P. 3 , accessed on June 24, 2011 (English).